AFL urged to stop halting the game for minor injuries: ‘Open to manipulation’

St Kilda great Nick Riewoldt has urged the AFL to fix a glaring problem that is “open to manipulation” in the finals series.

The issue of stopping the game for an injured player has reared its ugly head again after a controversial incident during Carlton’s win over Melbourne.

The issue has become common practice in recent years, and while it makes sense when a stretcher is called, many experts have raged over minor injuries.

During the first quarter of Saturday night’s clash, Melbourne defender Changkuoth Jiath went down after landing awkwardly in a marking contest.

Play briefly continued and Carlton kicked the ball inside 50 before umpires stopped play and brought the ball back to give a free kick.

Jiath was already getting to his feet at that point and the stoppage allowed Demons defenders to get back.

“This obsession with stopping the game for ’injured players’ is a disgrace and it’s open to manipulation,” Riewoldt said on The Agenda Setters.

“Jiath, he’s not hurt. He’s got a sore foot or a sore ankle or whatever.

“Meanwhile, you’ve been able to get 18 players back behind the ball. Fix it now.”

Fellow AFL great Kane Cornes has previously raged about the loophole being exploited by AFL teams after a game was stopped when a player went down with cramp last year.

“What are we doing? What are we doing stopping the game for a player with cramp,” Cornes said on First Up last year.

“Football is about the toughest, hardest, fittest team wins and we are giving a team an advantage because one of their players is underprepared and can’t get through.

“So what happens if this is a big final and a player decides to do this strategically?

“They need to make a rotation for example ... we can’t get one, let’s just fake someone with cramp and we know the umpires will stop it. We can get the rotation and then organise our defence and we can slow the momentum of the game.