Eagles eye legal options after Roosters field extra man at start of last term in incredible preliminary final comeback win
THE SANFL preliminary final has been plunged into controversy with Woodville-West Torrens seeking legal advice after the league confirmed victorious North Adelaide fielded 19 players for the first five minutes of the last term. Have your say in our poll.
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SANFL officials will have an urgent meeting on Monday morning in an attempt to resolve the preliminary final result after the league confirmed North Adelaide fielded 19 players for the first five minutes of the final term at Adelaide Oval on Sunday.
Woodville-West Torrens is investigating its legal options after the Roosters kicked 1.2 in that period and won the game by five points to secure a grand final battle against Norwood.
The Eagles hierarchy had a meeting at Woodville Oval on Sunday night with their lawyer to discuss their options and have not ruled out legal action.
The SANFL also met to investigate the issue on Sunday. In a statement late on Sunday night the league said it could confirm North had 19 players on the field at the start of the last quarter and that its investigation was continuing.
“SANFL is currently considering this matter and will provide a further statement as soon as possible.”
Eagles coach Michael Godden was angry after the game and said the extra Roosters’ player on the field had a huge impact.
“For three quarters we did pretty well and in the last quarter they got on a roll,” Godden said. “They had 19 men on the field for five minutes to start the last quarter and that does not help.
“We were in the box frantically trying to work out where this loose man was coming from.
“They had three inside 50s and three shots on goal because that bloke kept getting out. We just could not work out where he was coming from.
“We were putting a loose man behind the ball which we never do, we were in damage control.”
Eagles players including Nick Hayes, Jo Sinor, Paul Stewart and Seb Guilhaus took to social media on Sunday, venting their frustration with the circumstances.
In an extraordinary public post on Facebook that was later removed, Guilhaus also questioned the umpiring and the league’s integrity.
North Adelaide chief executive Greg Edwards on Sunday night fired back, saying he’d “had enough ... of Eagles players and some media calling us cheats for a three-minute interchange accident”.
“Shouldn’t they ask themselves how we kicked 12 goals in a row (7 after this incident) in a prelim...” he tweeted.
The Roosters had only two fit players capable of being on the bench after losing vice-captain Alex Spina early in the third quarter due to a suspected broken collar bone.
The controversy came just hours after a head count was ordered in the NEAFL grand final.
Southport had 19 men on the field for a small period early in the fourth quarter of their 55-point win against Sydney, but did not have their score wiped.
Leading by 10 goals heading into the final term, the Sharks were called in for the headcount when a Southport player realised he wasn’t meant to be on the field at the start of the quarter.
Making a break for the sidelines, the player was called back by the field umpire, who proceeded to count the extra man.
Under AFL rules, an extra player on the field results in the offending team having their score wiped. However, officials used discretionary power to call the error an interchange breach with the blessing of the Swans, meaning Southport only gave away a free kick and 50m penalty.
