Roosters coach Gerard FitzGerald and team manager Marg Richards remain adamant there was a four or so minute period late in the first quarter that Essendon had 19 men on the field. By the time the count could be made, following league protocol, the Bombers had seemingly realised their mistake and their extra man was off the field.

The Roosters were instead penalised 50 metres and a free kick for calling an incorrect count.

Under AFL Victoria rules, only the captain can call on the umpire for the count. The Roosters know this – they are the only club in VFL/VFA history to have made a successful count when they did so against Frankston in 2013.

Only, Roosters skipper Myles Sewell was on the interchange bench at the time the Roosters coaching box had triple-checked their rivals’ numbers on field. Vice-captain Lachie George was also on the bench.

The Roosters had trouble bringing a player off to put Sewell on – they had a runner on field relaying another message and, under team rules, players are not to come off when the opposition had the ball.

Richards said she would follow up the incident and rule with AFL Victoria umpiring head coach Cameron Nash for further clarification.

“We want to look right into the rules, because what happens if your captain is incapacitated or in the rooms at the time,” Richards said.

“...We had that learning from Frankston a couple of years ago when we initially sent a runner to the umpire and was told it had to be the captain. We worked desperately to get Myles on the ground and get the closest player off. Between Myles getting to the umpire and the count, Essendon must have realised.”

The count occurred at the 26-minute mark of the first quarter and the Bombers were leading by 19 points. If the Roosters had been successful, the Bombers score would have been wiped to that point. 

North Ballarat lost by 22 points.

The Roosters believe the extra man could have been on the field for about four minutes, possibly stemming from confusion in the Bombers’ camp when one of their players was sent off under the blood rule. Roosters’ statisticians noticed the interchange error and, after a quick count of their own, notified the coaching box. 

FitzGerald said his coach had been trying to work out why they kept hitting a loose player in the Bombers’ back lines at the time.

There are no longer interchange stewards in VFL matches.

Interestingly, Sewell was acting captain for the Roosters in their successful count against Frankston in late July 2013. AFL Victoria retrospectively stripped Frankston of its score to that point in the third quarter.