Essendon has been fined $20,000 for breaching draft rules relating to the medical testing clubs are permitted to carry out on players.

The Bombers reported the potential breach to the AFL recently, following an internal audit of its football department activities in 2013, and asked the league for "clarification and adjudication."

The AFL issued the fine after finding that the club had in fact broken rules relating to the testing clubs are allowed to do on possible draftees between the combine and national draft.

The punishment comes after the Bombers were fined $20,000 late last year - with half suspended - for having players train ahead of the rookie draft before lodging the appropriate paperwork with the AFL.

The league wrote to clubs the week before last year’s national draft warning them not to conduct their own medical assessments of players. Clubs can conduct some athletic testing on draft hopefuls but only at certain times, provided the players were not invited to the combine or a screening session.

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While clubs can request additional scans or assessments on players with injury issues, the testing is arranged by the AFL and the results sent to all clubs so that the teenagers are not asked to undergo the same examinations several times over.

The AFL’s Ken Wood reminded clubs that they were not permitted to request, invite, allow, require or direct a player who had attended the combine or state screening session to be tested, evaluated or do any form of training with the club.