Geelong skipper Joel Selwood won't face an AFL ban despite being black-carded during Australia's 53-50 win over Ireland in Perth to clinch the International Rules series.
Australia trailed by 16 points early in the third quarter, but goals to Eddie Betts and Dayne Zorko in the last 61 seconds of the match lifted the home side to the 0.15.8 (53) to 2.10.8 (50) win in front of 30,116 fans.
The 2-0 series win means Australia regain the Cormac McAnallen Trophy.
But the biggest talking point from Saturday night's match was the incident involving Selwood.
Selwood was black-carded just before halftime, having cleaned up Chris Barrett with a late and high bump after the Ireland star had disposed of the ball.
Barrett lay dazed on the ground as his teammates remonstrated with Selwood.
The black card meant Selwood was rubbed out for the remainder of the match, but Australia could replace him on the field with another player.
The heavy hit lit the fuse, and an all-in push-and-shove erupted at halftime as tempers threatened to boil over.
Players can be suspended for AFL games for any serious incidents arising from an International Rules match.
But after the game, umpires reviewed the vision and decided not to refer Selwood's hit to the tribunal, meaning the veteran wouldn't face any additional penalties.
Australian coach Chris Scott said Barrett probably didn't brace for the hit because it was not something that commonly occurred in Gaelic football.
"Joel did the wrong thing, but I don't think it was a hanging offence," Scott said.
"They're not used to players coming at them and making contact from the front.
"So it's only logical to think that if you played in the scenario where you're used to that contact, you might brace a little bit more."
Ireland coach Joe Kernan lashed out at the quality of the umpiring.
He believed Nat Fyfe should have been black-carded for a high fend-off, and that star Irish player Michael Murphy was unfairly targeted.
"Michael Murphy was tortured the whole game and got no protection whatsoever," Kernan said.
"He was obviously targeted. But it's up to the officials to check and make sure those things don't happen."
Last week's 63-53 win in Adelaide meant Australia could afford to lose by nine points or less in Perth and still win back the trophy.
But that buffer was snuffed out within eight minutes as Ireland stunned the home side with two goals.
Australian goalkeeper Brendon Goddard was caught out in a one-on-one situation on both occasions, giving him little chance of keeping out the low shots of Chris Barrett and Gary Brennan.
Goddard rebounded from the early setbacks to pull off two important saves later in the match.
Fyfe was named Australia's best player of the series, while Conor McManus was voted Ireland's best player.
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