Hall of Fame Legend Malcolm Blight calls for 19th man saga to be settled on the field rather than in courtrooms

HALL of Fame Legend Malcolm Blight calls for SANFL to order replay of preliminary final last quarter to settle 19th man controversy and determine who will play Norwood in grand final.

• Rucci: SANFL stuck in crisis with no clear solution
• What happens next? SANFL meets on 19th man blunder
• Controversy mars incredible Roosters victory
• League confirms 19th man, Eagles eye legal options
• Southport survive extra man controversy in NEAFL grand final

HALL of Fame Legend Malcolm Blight wants the 19th man saga tainting the SANFL grand final settled on the field rather than in board rooms or at court houses.

Blight is calling on the SANFL to have North Adelaide and Woodville-West Torrens return to Adelaide Oval on Tuesday night for a replay of the last quarter of the contentious preliminary final — the term that began on Sunday with 19 Roosters on the field.

Scores for the replay would be re-set to the three quarter-time scoreboard — with the Eagles leading North Adelaide by 20 points, 10.8 (68) to 7.6 (48).

Blight quotes the precedent from the AFL on Saturday, June 8, 1996 — the night the lights went out at Waverley Park in Melbourne after 20 minutes of the third term in the Essendon-St Kilda match.

Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy out on the ground waiting for a decision on the game after the lights went out at Waverley Park.

The AFL called both teams back to Waverley to finish the match — with the chance to change their line-up to cover injuries. Essendon won the match by 22 points after playing the last 45 minutes (the 4:47 left in the third term and all of the last quarter). The AFL later rewrote its rules to ensure there would be a match result if floodlighting ever again failed in a match.

Blight argues so many mistakes were made in the first five minutes of the SANFL preliminary final that everyone had to be held to account for “a lack of due diligence” with the interchange rules.

“The interchange steward should have stopped the game,” Blight said. “But I don’t put fault before North Adelaide or Woodville-West Torrens.

“The best solution is to have the two teams settle it on the field with their football. Bring them back on Tuesday night and play out the last quarter again.

“And then the SANFL has to make sure that someone on match day uses his power to make sure such a mistake never happens again.”

[e-mail]