Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell has explained the moment his side had 19 players on the field during Thursday's 20-point victory over Carlton, flagging "miscommunication" cost the Hawks a penalty during the opening half of the Round 2 match.
During the second quarter, as both sides prepared for a centre bounce, Hawks wingman Harry Morrison was seen running from the field shortly after taking his position, with no teammate coming on to replace the midfielder.
Morrison had only just come back into the game after several bench rotations were made by the Hawks, with a moment of confusion just prior seeing him return to the field with no player coming off.
Given the Hawks' error came before play had begun, the Hawks were only pinged with a 6-6-6 warning, which would eventually cost Mitchell as a second warning eventually ensued, giving the Blues a free kick in the middle of the field.
"I only just head about it. The bench guys were saying someone came off and then didn't realise someone had come on and no one had come on, so he ran back on,” Mitchell said after his side's win.
"So it was just a miscommunication, so it obviously cost us a 6-6-6 warning, which we then got another one, so it was a free kick.
"So we need to be better than that, we need to be more organised. The ripple effect of things like second rucks, those things cause us a bit of trouble.
"We need to get better in that area, and we would hope that that won't happen again."
The AFL has since revealed a free kick and 50-metre penalty should have been awarded to the Blues, with the Hawks since handed a warning by the AFL.
"Hawthorn had 19 players on the field as the teams were resetting for the bounce," an AFL statement provided to 7 News read.
"Upon realising this, the AFL interchange official notified Hawthorn who took steps to rectify the error before play resumed.
"The AFL Field Umpires paid a 6-6-6 warning as Hawthorn were lined up with 7 players in one of the sections of the field.
"Upon review of the situation post-match, it is the view of the AFL that the AFL interchange official should have considered it a major breach, alerted the umpires and Carlton should have been awarded a free kick and 50m penalty from the centre.
"The AFL has now provided Hawthorn with a wanting in relation to their process for managing player rotations."
Had the Hawks field one too many players midway through play and Carlton captain Patrick Cripps had requested a head count, a free kick would have been awarded to the Blues skipper either in the centre of the ground or where play had stopped, depending on what would have been most advantageous for Carlton.
A fifty-metre penalty would then be imposed from the point of the free kick.
But what would've cost the Hawks the most is that the offending club loses all points recorded in the quarter up until the point of the headcount request, which would've swung the game in favour of the Blues.
Thankfully for Mitchell's side, only a 6-6-6 warning was handed down given the point in play, with the Hawks going on to claim their third successive win of 2025.
Carlton were handed their second loss in as many weeks, with the Victorian powerhouse a chance to plummet further from their current ladder position of 13th.
Another problem with the massive number of rotations.
The solution is simple:
There are 6 forwards
There are 6 midfielders
There are 6 defenders.
Simply make it 6 “interchange” and allow 6 substitutions during any quarter of football.
Removes an advantage to a side that loses a player due to injury (incl. concussion or any reportable offence by it’s opposition)
Removes a lot of wasted bureaucracy in administrating the “interchange gate”.
Removes a great deal of congestion around the ball – resulting in a more open game.