SANFL left with much more to consider than new clauses in law books after 19th man fiasco

NEW rules can be written to deal with the lessons from the SANFL’s 19th man fiasco, but the key point remains how the rules are used by match officials - and the “independent” SA Football Commission

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SO many loose ends remain from the 19th-man debacle that - for the first time since 1902 - has forced the SANFL to again decide the grand finalists in a meeting room rather than on the football field.

And for all the pressure on SANFL football boss Adam Kelly to rewrite the rules for the next time a team fails to stick to the regulation 18 on the field, there is the key point that more ink in the law books is not the guarantee to such a farce not happening again.

Critically, Kelly has to deal with his interchange stewards who failed on Sunday at Adelaide Oval.

The days of the recording interchanges on a clipboard with a pen are gone. The $10,000 fine applied to North Adelaide for fielding an extra player at the start of the last term of Sunday’s preliminary final should be dedicated to laptops linked to the Champion Data statisticians who are counting who is on the field and noting who is on the interchange bench.

Process - correct process - will offer more security than a new clause in the rule book.

There is one handy byproduct from the “starting positions” recommendation before the AFL Commission today. The demand that teams take 6-6-6 formations at the start of each term and after each goal puts the umpires on duty to count 18 players for each side.

But back to the loose ends.

WHAT will the SANFL do with North Adelaide general manager Greg Edwards’ declaration on radio FIVEaa that the Rooster’s 19th man - Aidan Tropiano - was “half concussed” when he failed to read coach Josh Carr’s whiteboard calling for him to start the last term on the bench rather than in the centre square?

At a time when the duty of care with players dealing with suspected concussion is so serious, the SANFL cannot overlook how North Adelaide dealt with Tropiano on Sunday.

WHAT is to be made of the SA Football Commission? Formed in 1991 to act as the highest authority in SA football - and with independence - the commission should have been the point of judgment on the 19th man controversy.

.SA Football Commissioner John Olsen arrives at SANFL head office at Adelaide Oval for Monday night’s crisis meeting. Picture: TAIT SCHMAAL.

The nine-person commission - led by SANFL president John Olsen - was the appropriate place to take a report and recommendation from Kelly before delivering a finding.

But the “independence” of the commission is always in question while commissioners are reliant on SANFL club votes for their seats. And some SANFL clubs work the numbers with more venom than the backrooms of the Liberal Party in Canberra when it comes to deposing Prime Ministers.

The image of the “tail wagging the dog” continues.

Should North Adelaide win Sunday’s grand final - rising from bottom to top in 12 months - there will be many who will put an asterisk against the Roosters’ 14th flag. Norwood will start the grand final as the team everyone bar North Adelaide fans want to win to protect the league’s “integrity” ... until someone stirs up the question of alleged salary cap breaches.

Again it is not the perceived failure of the rules, but the work of officials on duty.

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