Brett Ratten won’t blame his club’s interchange stewards for the Round 10 loss to Sydney, telling reporters post-game that North Melbourne had its chances.
With 59 seconds to play and the ball deep in Sydney’s forward 50, the officiating umpire listened to his earpiece before awarding Swan Hayden McLean a free kick and 50-metre penalty after being advised of an interchange infringement.
The Roos made two subs in the dying minute with Liam Shiels and Will Phillips coming from the ground and replaced by Will Powell and Hugh Greenwood.
Will Phillips was rotation 75 and Liam Shiels (who appeared to have cramp) 76. @1116sen https://t.co/IJ9MYZYNT2
— Tom Morris (@tommorris32) May 20, 2023
Extraordinary scenes as the Roos give away a free kick and 50m following a bench infringement, costing them the match.
— Fox Footy (@FOXFOOTY) May 20, 2023
📺 Watch #AFLNorthSwans LIVE on ch. 504 or stream on Kayo: https://t.co/c5Vwhmfd1e
✍️ BLOG https://t.co/8XBBSVhi3A
🔢 MATCH CENTRE https://t.co/0Ep0VEtv0Z pic.twitter.com/Mb9BBoTFvm
But those changes took the club to 76 interchanges, one more than permitted, leaving dumbfounded Roos players unable to do anything other than watch as McLean booted what would be the final goal and seal a three-point win as a result of the highly unusual rule breach.
Footage replayed by Fox Footy reveals the discussion between the umpires upon finding out about the infraction.
McLean told ABC: “The umpire sort of just kept holding the ball. I was wondering what was going on. I thought maybe a free kick down-field or something.”
👀 A dramatic finish.
— ABC SPORT (@abcsport) May 20, 2023
"The umpire sort of just kept holding the ball. I was wondering what was going on. I thought maybe a free kick down field or something." Hayden McLean told Grandstand AFL after kicking the winning goal.
Listen: https://t.co/rXlJfZQ8Ce#AFL #AFLNorthSwans pic.twitter.com/x3HoRikNC8
But speaking about the heartbreaking loss, North Melbourne’s seventh in a row, Brett Ratten wouldn’t identify the shock rule breach as the key issue.
“We'll review it and work out how we can do some things better, but we won't focus on that. We had our chances,” he told reporters.
There are two I/C stewards on a bench in between the teams. One focuses on each club. Their sole job is to count rotations.
— Tom Morris (@tommorris32) May 20, 2023
When the number reaches 75, the iPad digits turn from black to red. Both benches + coaches' boxes can see this.@1116sen #CrunchTime
However, he did concede: There's disappointment, you could see it on their faces. But we'll get into more winning positions if we keep up that style of footy.”
The result was the Roos’ first getting within five goals since playing Hawthorn in Round 3 and had a noticeable attention on effort in playing for coach Alastair Clarkson.
Clarkson stepped away from the club on Thursday to look after his health as the weight of the AFL’s investigation into historical racism claims at Hawthorn grew greater on the esteemed coach.
The Roos laid almost 20 more tackles than their season average on Saturday and Ratten – coaching his first game since Round 23 last year at the Saints – praised the style.
“That's how we want to play. Our contest and pressure got us back into the game. It's been a big week, and the players' resilience to get up and perform at that level was really pleasing,” he added.
Ratten also admitted he was unsure if Clarkson had watched the game.