Sydney coach Paul Roos has criticised the AFL's new interchange rules as "ridiculous", saying they have over-complicated the system and produced more likelihood for uneven numbers on the field.
As clubs struggled to come to terms with the new rules, Roos said it was unnecessary for club officials to lodge paper work with AFL stewards which detailed which players were being swapped.
"They need to look into the paper work situation," Roos said after Sydney thrashed Essendon by 91 points at ANZ Stadium.
"You don't see them handing over sheets in the NBA or the NFL.
"This is the only game in the world where you actually have to hand over a bit of paper before you are actually allowed on the playing field.
"It just seems a bit ridiculous to me."
The new rules were brought in after the Swans momentarily had 19 players on the field late in the drawn round-six game against North Melbourne.
Under them, clubs must lodge a small piece of paper with an AFL official detailing which player comes off the ground, and his replacement, before the switch is made.
Players must also stay inside a box on the interchange area while their teammate comes off and are not permitted to enter the field of play beforehand.
Clubs were given this round to get used to the new rules, and will be penalised through free kicks and 50-metre penalties if they infringe from next weekend.
Several sides erred on the side of caution this weekend, when at times they had five players on the bench and 17 on-field.
But Roos agreed with Brisbane's Leigh Matthews in saying the new rules had over-complicated the system, where the AFL only needed to ensure there were 18 players per side on the field.
"It is ridiculous that you have to go through so much protocol to get players on and off the field, all we want to see is an 18 versus 18 competition," Roos said.
"Who cares whether No.4 is coming on for No.6 ... I think it is a bit embarrassing when you watch games on the weekend to see five and six on the interchange bench.
"You are going to get 17 versus 18 and 16 versus 18, and as we saw sometimes today, that is just as embarrassing as having 19 versus 18 to be honest.
"It is the only game in the world in which I can think that that happens."
The AFL will tomorrow review how the trial went, but football operations general manager Adrian Anderson said interchanges had worked "a lot cleaner and a lot better" this weekend.
However Anderson was unsure whether there were any infringements that would have resulted in free kicks.
"The reports I have seen have said that changes were a lot better and a lot cleaner and worked significantly better," he said.
"We're confident that having seen the way clubs have adapted this weekend, if they do it well there'll be no infringements from next weekend."
Sydney were fined $50,000 - half of which was suspended - for their indiscretion in round six, when debutant Jesse White ran onto the field to become the 19th man thinking a teammate had come off.
Anderson said the new rules were necessary to ensure a level playing field, as Hawthorn and Port Adelaide were also fined when they momentarily had 19 men on the field in pre-season matches.
"It's happened three times already this year," he said.
"It's a fundamental we have 18 versus 18 and the interchange area needs to be properly controlled."
