The AFL says umpires went a little too far in policing the crackdown on the protected area.
The league issued a statement the day after the Richmond-Carlton season opener, saying two of the five 50m penalties were wrong and a third was borderline.
Four of those penalties went against Richmond and the league also acknowledged coach Damien Hardwick for not firing up in his post-game comments about the issue.
Hardwick said he would be fine with the crackdown, provided it was consistent.
The AFL has made it clear to clubs that umpires will be hot on the protected area around the player who has taken a mark or a free kick.
The five 50m penalties stood out during the Tigers' 26-point win.
The AFL said the penalty paid against Richmond's Shai Bolton in the first quarter was wrong, because there was no evidence of an infringement against Zac Fisher.
Likewise, the league acknowledged Richmond's Josh Caddy was trying to get out of the way when a 50m penalty was given in the third quarter to Charlie Curnow.
The 50-50 penalty was against Tigers wingman Kamdyn McIntosh, after Jacob Weitering played on in the third term.
"As long as it's consistently paid for the remainder of the weekend, I'm happy," Hardwick said of the new interpretation.
"That way, we know what we're playing with.
"We gave away too many cheap free kicks."
The AFL football operations department and umpires took note of Hardwick's measured comments, saying they "would like to acknowledge the manner in which (he) articulated the circumstances around these decisions".
The AFL said umpires would be reminded that if a player was trying to get out of the protected area, no 50m penalty should be paid.
St Kilda coach Alan Richardson said all clubs were well aware of the protected-area crackdown, but thought a couple of Thursday night's calls might have been "a little bit over the top".
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