AFL admits penalty errors made against Tigers

The AFL has taken the extraordinary step of clarifying the controversial 'protected area' infringements paid against Richmond in Thursday night's opening game.

Five 50-metre penalties were paid by the umpires in the Tigers' win over Carlton, with many fans expressing surprise over the crackdown.

While Richmond coach Damien Hardwick claimed responsibility for his side's repeated infringements, the AFL revealed on Friday afternoon that two calls were incorrect and a third was marginal.

The league found "no evidence" against Shai Bolton early in the first quarter, while Josh Caddy showed "intent to clear protected area immediately" after Blues forward Charlie Curnow took a mark.

The third call up in the air was against Kamdyn McIntosh, who was caught close to Jacob Weitering when the Carlton defender played on in the third quarter.

"All field umpires will be briefed on these particular instances prior to the rest of this weekend's games," the AFL said in a statement.

"We will be reiterating to the umpires that if a player is making every effort to clear the protected area once play has been set, no 50-metre penalty should apply."

The response may not go down too well with Hardwick, who hoped the interpretations from Thursday night's umpires would be consistent through the season.

"No, no, it was a rule, we understand that," he told reporters after the win at the MCG.

"We've got some work to do on that part of the game. There's probably one -- maybe I thought the Josh Caddy one was probably stiff, I thought he was heading out.

"Like I said, if the rules are in play, I'm very happy provided they're consistent. That way we know what we're playing with.

"That's my bad. I thought we gave away too many cheap free kicks."

Richmond came back from five goals down early to defeat Carlton by 26 points in front of more than 90,000 fans at the MCG.

Brownlow medallist Dustin Martin was Richmond's best player on the night, but he was not at his peak and only kicked 1.3.

"He was probably reflective of us as a side - he was okay in stages, but he certainly has work to do," Hardwick said.

Alex Rance and David Astbury impressed Hardwick in defence, while Jacob Townsend (four goals) and Jack Graham (13 tackles) carried on from last year's late-season heroics.

An obvious worry was their ruck deficiency whenever Toby Nankervis was off the ground.

"It's a concern, but you can worry about it or accept it may happen," Hardwick said.

"We play our best footy at this stage without a second tall or a second ruck, but we're really confident we have some players who are developing."

with AAP