The AFL believes Sydney acted outside the spirit of the game in the dying stages of its win over North Melbourne on Sunday.
AFL Football Operations boss Steve Hocking responded to questions from the media around claims Swans' runner Jeremy Laidler deliberately guarded space and stayed on the ground for en extended period when the game was on the line.
“I don’t think it (Laidler’s incident) is within the spirit of the game, but I can give you another 17 examples from the weekend,” Hocking said.
Hocking said the league would look at ways to limit runners' time on the ground.
“It’s very grey, the way it’s all written,” he said.
“As clubs do, they live in the grey and they’re exceptional at it, as they should be.
“That’s where it comes back to us, what’s the legislation around that? How do we tighten that up to make sure it aligns with the spirit of the game, which I’m huge on."
Earlier in the day, Sydney coach John Longmire denied Laider did anything wrong.
“He had a small window with 43 seconds to get off the ground, when the play was between him and the interchange bench, he didn’t take it,” Longmire said.
“He missed that opportunity as a lot of people make mistakes or miss opportunities, whether it’s free kicks or decisions missed."
Despite damning vision showing Laider seemingly following an unmanned North player, Longmire said it wasn't intentional.
"There was absolutely no indication of him deliberately blocking space, or manning up players, that’s just absolutely incorrect.”
AFL rules require runners to leave the field immediately after passing on messages and are not to coach while on the field.
Some believe Laidler made a “blatant” effort to impact the play and now fear the runners will be banned.
“But the manner that he conducts himself with the player in the space from where the stoppage is, suggests that he was putting himself in visibility as to where the North Melbourne player was," Gerard Whately said on Fox Footy's AFL360 program.
“The directive (from the AFL) is quite clear. The runners have to get on, deliver the message and get off,” Geelong coach Chris Scott said on Fox Footy.
“The runners shouldn’t be out there to direct players to man up free players, which appeared to be what was going on there.
“That is pretty blatant.”
Former coach Michael Malthouse agreed when calling the game on radio.
“There is a Sydney runner out there, he has been out there for about three minutes,” Malthouse said on ABC radio.
“Reality-wise, we don’t need that.”
The AFL says it will investigate the incident.
The North Melbourne Football Club did not make a formal complaint to the AFL.
