The AFL will review their interchange rules after the controversial finish to Sunday's North Melbourne-Sydney match highlighted growing problems with the issue.

Sydney was slugged with a $50,000 fine - half of which is suspended for two years - for having 19 men on the field with about a minute left in the draw with the Kangaroos at Telstra Dome.

The Swans labelled the fine "severe" but will accept the sanction.

The league also accepted the Swans' explanation that first-gamer Jesse White, rather than fellow ruckman Darren Jolly, was the "19th man" and that the incident was an accident.

AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson said the league had looked at awarding the match to North, but accepted the incident was a mistake.

"Of course, we consider all the options that are open," he told Fairfax Radio.

Anderson added clubs were now "on notice" in this era of high player rotations off the bench that they had to ensure their interchanges were always done properly.

He conceded that the league should review the process during the game where a team could confirm that the opposition had too many men on the field.

"We should look at that, it is time - it has worked well ... but whether it is appropriate in this day and age, there are various things we'll be looking at as part of the laws process this year," Anderson said.

"That will be one of them.

"Where the count has come in is usually where there's been a much longer period that a club has had an extra player on the field."

Under the current rules, the captain has to call for an opposition head count before any action can be taken during the match.

North coach Dean Laidley said he was too busy in the frenetic last moments of Sunday's game to consider a head count.

Before the AFL announced the penalty Monday night, there had been widespread discussion about whether the league should award North the match as punishment for the error.

The league has also fined the Western Bulldogs and Hawthorn $7500 apiece for "19th men" infractions in the last couple of seasons.

But it handed a much heavier penalty to Sydney because this incident happened in a crucial moment of a tight game.

Jolly was involved in the passage of play that led to Swans midfielder Brett Kirk scoring the game-tying behind, whereas White was at the other end of the ground at the time.

The Swans argued White mistakenly came onto the ground, but Jolly was removed from the field once they realised the mistake.

Richmond coach Terry Wallace said earlier the league needed to set a strong precedent, to stop clubs deliberately putting an extra man on the field near the end of a tight match.

Anderson made it clear the league was cracking down on how clubs managed interchanges.

"We are concerned the clubs follow the interchange procedures correctly and it can have a very serious effect on a game like this," he said.

"We'll be following through to put other clubs on notice, that really this interchange procedure needs to be followed properly."

The controversy came to light after a report from the AFL's interchange steward at the game.

Swans football manager Andrew Ireland said White was "caught out" by a double interchange from North.

He followed opponent David Hale back onto the ground, unaware that team-mate Kieren Jack had already returned to the field.

Ireland also stressed that Jolly was not the extra man.

"Certainly Jolly was involved in the play, but he wasn't intended to come off for White - we actually got him off because after he handpassed, he was the closest bloke to the interchange bench," he said.

"'Jolls' was going to play out the end of the game, as our No.1 ruckman."

In a club statement, Swans chief executive Myles Baron-Hay said they were in the wrong.

"While we consider the $50,000 sanction to be severe we accept the decision of the AFL," he said.

"We fully understand the implications of having a 19th player on the field and for that reason we are accepting of the fine - we as a club were in the wrong."

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