AFL field umpire Damien Sully was following instructions when he did not recall his errant centre bounce on Saturday night.

Sully's bounce went badly off line at a crucial stage of the match between North Melbourne and Collingwood at the MCG.

North captain Adam Simpson took possession without either ruckman touching the ball and it led directly to a Kangaroos goal.

It was in the midst of their comeback from 21 points down to win by seven points.

"If it's a bounce that both ruckmen can't contest, it's a bad one, in this case the umpire just calls `play on' immediately so that any players within the vicinity can contest it," AFL media manager Patrick Keane said.

The umpire would only recall the bounce if the ball had made contact with him.

"That's just the instruction they give to the umpires," Keane said.

But boundary umpires are instructed to recall their throw-ins if they go wrong.

"They instruct the boundary umpires to throw the ball in a minimum of distance of 15m," Keane said.

"So if the umpire doesn't reach that distance, they instruct them to do that again."

The AFL seems determined to retain field bounces, rather than the field umpires throwing the ball up.

"The AFL Commission has always said, no, we're retaining the bounce, it's an intrinsic part of our game," Keane said.

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