THE AFL has moved to clarify an apparent siren controversy from an incident that occurred almost four weeks ago, with audio of the event suggesting Jack Gunston did not enter the field of play until after the final siren.
A report on Channel Seven surfaced on Monday night suggesting Gunston became Hawthorn's 76th interchange in the draw against Collingwood, breaching the limit of 75 rotations per match, just a split-second before Dylan Moore kicked a goal after the siren to tie the match.
>> WATCH BEHIND-THE-GOALS VISION OF THE INCIDENT BELOW
However, in releasing audio of the incident from the match 26 days ago, the AFL also reiterated on Tuesday that the interchange official – who has the final call on such matters – only had the Hawks listed as 74 rotations at the time.
The League has determined it will take no further action on the incident.
"On the night, the AFL interchange official had a count of 74 rotations with Gunston being the 75th and final," the AFL's executive general manager of football performance Greg Swann said on Tuesday. "In any event, having recently reviewed the vision, Gunston doesn't enter the field of play before the siren sounds."
Vision with audio provided to AFL.com.au shows Gunston enter the field of play in the top right-hand corner of the screen a split-second after the siren, backed up by synced vision of the interchange bench from the ARC.
When a team goes over the League's 75-rotation cap, the opposition side takes possession of the ball and wins a 50m penalty. Had such an error occurred in this game, it would have led to a Collingwood free kick and victory.
However, the AFL's interchange official has the final call on the amount of rotations used in any given match, rather than Champion Data, and communicates the number to clubs throughout games.
Vision from the 20-minute mark of the first quarter shows Hawthorn make four rotations, as logged by Champion Data, although the AFL's interchange official only listed the Hawks as making three at the time.
However, clubs are mandated to go by the count of the League's interchange official, meaning the Hawks were entitled to switch James Sicily with Gunston in the game's last moments in any case.
