The AFL has conceded that an umpiring mistake was made late in the thriller between Essendon and North Melbourne at Marvel Stadium on Thursday night.

With fewer than 10 minutes to go and the ball deep in North’s forward line, the umpire had blown the whistle to ball it up in the goalsquare when Jacob Konstanty kicked the Sherrin away.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: AFL umpire changes call on controversial free kick.

The umpire then paid a free kick to North Melbourne, which triggered an uproar from Essendon players, who quickly pointed out that Konstanty was a North player.

The umpire then suddenly changed his mind, and pointed to his earpiece, telling the Essendon players that he had “just got word”, and was balling it up.

At that point in the game Essendon held an eight-point lead, but North were closing. If the free had been paid, it was a certain goal to the Kangaroos.

“That’s the first time ever I’ve seen an umpire change his decision,” legendary Channel 7 commentator Brian Taylor said.

Taylor then asked the question that Essendon’s Will Setterfield appeared to ask the umpire at the time.

“So going back to that North free, why wouldn’t it have been a Bomber free for kicking the ball away?” Taylor said.

Expert caller Kane Cornes said: “It makes no sense. That’s what happens when umpires listen to communication in their ear and they pay something they haven’t seen with their own eyes.

“Very dangerous when you start paying free kicks because you’ve heard something in your ear.”

Taylor: “But that communication could have been from one of the other umpires, you’re implying it’s come from somewhere else.”

“But how could (an umpire) advise him to pay that if he’s seen the wrong thing?” Cornes asked.

In the end, the decision did not impact the result, and the Bombers managed to hang on to a three-point victory.

But Channel 7’s chief AFL reporter Mitch Cleary clarified the situation with the AFL after the game.

“I just got word from the AFL, the only word the umpires get is from the other three field umpires during the game,” Cleary said on Thursday night.

“So there’s not some big brother sitting in the stands that can comms in.

“The AFL is adamant that (the clarification) has come from one of the other three field umpires. They got the right decision in the end.”

But Seven caller Hamish McLachlan and St Kilda legend Nick Riewoldt were still scratching their heads.

“What was the free kick for?” Riewoldt asked.

Cleary said that they thought that Essendon had kicked the ball through the goals and had been intentionally time wasting or it was a deliberate act.

“But North Melbourne kicked the ball,” McLachlan said.

Cleary: “So that’s why the mistake, and that’s why they called the ball-up.”

But Riewoldt and McLachlan were still puzzled and both asked: “So then shouldn’t it have been a free kick to Essendon?”

And they were right, with the AFL confirming on Friday that the controlling umpire should have awarded a kick to the Bombers.

“The field umpire who is the controlling umpire, in error, blows the whistle and calls a free kick to North Melbourne for time delay,” AFL footy boss Laura Kane said.

“Another field umpire, or the support umpire through their ‘comms’ (earpiece communication) says, ‘No, it wasn’t Essendon’ ... But the other umpire doesn’t have a clear enough view on exactly what happened, but just knows it wasn’t an Essendon player who kicked the ball.

“So in the circumstances, the umpires are instructed to cancel the free kick if they know they have made an error, and in this case it was really clear an error was made, and ball it up.

“But upon review, we can now look back and it (should have been) a free kick to Essendon for time delay by North Melbourne.

“It is complicated, but what we are pleased with is the free kick did not go to North Melbourne and that it (original call) was cancelled.”