THE AFL says Richmond had no grounds to call for Thursday night's NAB Challenge clash to end early.
 
Tigers football manager Dan Richardson approached AFL officials during the last quarter, as the side's injury toll continued to mount.
 
AFL football operations boss Mark Evans, who was at the game, quickly ruled the siren wouldn't be sounding early.
 
"I suppose given the position they were in, I think down to one on the bench with about seven or eight minutes to play ... that offer came up,” Evans told SEN radio.
 
"I think you've got obligations to people who paid for tickets, people watching at home, the opposition.
 
"If you want to have complete control over a match like that, it's called an intra-club practice match and you can probably do what you like there.
 
"There are some rules about minimum players on the ground, but my point was there were players on the bench at that time that were fit and able to be on the ground."
 
On Friday, Richardson conceded it was always unlikely the game would have been stopped.
 
"The question was asked about whether the game could be cut short, but I don't think it was ever asked formally," he told reporters.  
 
"There was a lot of discussion going on between our bench and the Port bench."
 
But he said it made sense to go into 'self-preservation' mode.
 
"In the end our duty is to protect the welfare of our players as a footy club."