UMPIRE Jordan Bannister says he'll cop the blame for the high-contact free kick awarded to Hawthorn debutant Kade Stewart in Saturday's clash against Melbourne.

Bannister paid Stewart a contentious free kick in front of goal early in the final quarter after Stewart appeared to drive his head directly into Melbourne youngster James Harmes.

AFL football operations boss Mark Evans said Bannister acknowledged his mistake after the game given Stewart ducked into the Harmes' tackle.

Bannister confirmed the error on Sunday afternoon, tweeting: "No confusion, I just paid a s*** free".

"We average a couple of errors a game and always try to learn from errors," he added.

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"That free kick should not have been paid. That was a player who ducked into the contact and it should've been called play on," Evans told radio station 3AW on Sunday.

"The umpire spoke to (AFL umpires coach) Hayden Kennedy and Luke Ball about it last night.

"The umpire had mentioned it to his coach straight after the game that he thought he'd paid it incorrectly."

Evans added the League would continue to monitor those who initiated head-high contact to earn free kicks, but said the onus was on the tackler to make legal contact.



"I'm quite happy to look at ways where players contribute to their own head-high contact, but we won't be bringing in anything that just gives a green light for sloppy and forceful contact to the head," Evans said.



Speaking post-match, Hawks coach Alastair Clarkson called for the AFL to change the head-high contact rules at season's end, saying the current interpretation incentivised players and placed them at more risk of injury.



The head-high contact rule was thrust back into the spotlight following the round 10 North Melbourne-Sydney Swans clash, which saw two first-half free kicks awarded to Thomas and converted into goals.



Swan George Hewett was also paid a free kick in that game for a similar head-high tackle and converted the set shot, having dropped his knees in a Jamie Macmillan tackle.



After the game, Kangaroos coach Brad Scott and Swans coach John Longmire said the League should look at the head-high rule at the end of the season.

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