THE AFL has not directed umpires to reducethe number of free kicks paid in a match, general manager of footballoperations Mark Evans says. 

He said on Monday that the brief for theumpires had been unchanged all year and that was to pay free kicks as they occur. 

Speaking on Access All Areas on AFL.com.au,Evans said that the average of 38 free kicks and two 50m penalties per match sofar in 2013 was the same as last year. 

"There has been no direction orphilosophical change to put the whistle away and pay only the obvious freekicks," he said. 

He said umpires might pay more free kicksat the start of the year as they bed down new rules and interpretations. 

"The challenge moving forward is howwe get our umpires into round one, round two and round three so they are in amore consistent phase," he said. 

He also rejected suggestions that Essendoncoach James Hird had received a special briefing from the AFL umpiresdepartment in the lead up to the round nine clash with Richmond. 

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Evans said the conversation with Hird wouldhave been no different to that between the coaches and various officials fromthe AFL's umpiring department on most weeks over the course of the season.

He said the tribunal and match review panelsystem was working reasonably well, but would be reviewed at the end of theyear, perhaps with a view to simplifying some of the language. 

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"For me it might be about creatingmore clarity for people so they understand the impact of prior record, goodrecord or carryover points, to make those things simpler. There might be someother tweaks along the way. 

"People look at it as in did they geta reprimand or one week or two weeks, so I think we need to find a way tocommunicate that better.