AFL retracts claim that umpires gave league 'wrong information' in Lachie Schultz concussion aftermath

The AFL has admitted a process "failed", compounding the debacle around the on-field mishandling of a concussion to Collingwood forward Lachie Schultz.

The Magpies said on Wednesday they had not heard from the league in days, even after the AFL's health and safety protocols had come under fire.

The AFL has been slammed for bungling an investigation into why Schultz was not removed from the field, despite clearly being in trouble following a collision with Fremantle defender Jordan Clark last Thursday night.

AFL football boss Laura Kane has taken responsibility for the situation after becoming aware umpires had actually noticed Schultz was injured.

The AFL initially released a statement saying umpires didn't see Schultz on the ground, but would have stopped play had they realised.

However, audio obtained by Network Seven's The Agenda Setters revealed on Tuesday night that field umpires were aware Schultz was injured.

In a statement to Seven, AFL football boss Laura Kane said the AFL had initially been given the wrong information by the umpires, which led to them declaring the umpires had not seen the stricken Magpie.

"They [the umpires] were going off memory and not the vision and we should always look at the vision," she said.

"All the field umpires from the game have all been coached this afternoon that they should have stopped the game."

Then, late on Wednesday, the league sent out another statement, saying there had been an initial miscommunication last Friday.

"Our process in determining what happened Thursday night failed and for that we take full responsibility," Kane said.

"Today we have determined there was a miscommunication from members of the umpiring department, not the field umpires, which formed the basis of our initial public statement on Friday.

"Those team members have been counselled and reminded of the importance of ensuring our process is fully followed regarding these types of incidents and in this instance it was not."

Kane added she had asked colleague Josh Mahoney to ensure the miscommunication did not happen again.

Lachie Schultz fell to the ground while trying to run off after the sickening clash with Jordan Clark in the final quarter. (Getty Images: Janelle St Pierre)

Collingwood coach Craig McRae was adamant post-match on Thursday night play should have been halted.

Magpies football boss Charlie Gardiner stepped in ahead of McRae's weekly media conference to address questions about the AFL and umpiring.

"A little bit surprised with some of the internal communications (at the AFL)," Gardiner said on Wednesday.

"But from our perspective it doesn't really change our position, which was we felt like on the night that play should have been stopped.

"We were contacted (by the AFL) on Friday just as a check-in.

"They informed us that they felt that the right decision would have been to stop the game, and they followed that with the public position.

"But we haven't had any further contact other than that."

Several AFL umpires attended Collingwood's training session on Wednesday, but Gardiner insisted it was "part of our ordinary training plan."

Gardiner said there were no "formal" discussions about the issues of the past week.

ABC/AAP

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