THE BRISBANE Lions say they are happy to move on after the AFL admitted umpires made an error in the dying minutes of their loss to the Sydney Swans on Sunday.
Lions CEO Greg Swann said the club now had some clarity after the AFL confirmed it was a mistake to stop play with Swans ruckman Callum Sinclair more than 100m from the action.
"You'd hate to see that happen in a Grand Final, but at least there's some clarity around it now," Swann said.
"We accept it now and move on.
"We thought they got it wrong, it doesn't help us now, but let's hope it doesn't again."
Swann said it wasn't solely responsible for costing the Lions victory.
The incident came with three minutes remaining and the Swans leading by three points.
With the ball being contested inside the Lions' forward 50, umpires halted play to allow Sinclair, who was clutching his knee in pain more than 100m from the action, to be taken off under the stretcher rule.
Without the stretcher in sight, he then hobbled from the ground, and play resumed with a ball-up.
"After reviewing what occurred, it was the AFL view that play was incorrectly stopped in this scenario," AFL spokesman Patrick Keane said.
"The umpire has the discretion to stop continuous play when it may interfere with an injured player or the persons attending an injured player.
"This was not the case here with play at the opposite end to the ground to the injured player.
"When a stretcher is on the ground or has been called for, play will be stopped at the next break in play – at the next mark, ball up, out of bounds, free kick – but again this was not the case in this instance.
"The decision to stop play at the time it was stopped was an error."
Lions coach Justin Leppitsch spoke to officials post match and was still fuming in his press conference.
"We're three points down with a live ball in our forward 50 and they can get 18 players down there," he said.
"Can we use it as a tactic, now, can we? I don't know.
"I suppose I've asked some questions to get some answers but I'd be highly disappointed if it was used as a tactic when a bloke's gone down with assumedly cramp, after tripping over his own feet, and a runner's called for a stretcher because they're down in numbers late in the game.
"Wouldn't you be filthy? Of course you would be."
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