Kennedy said on Monday the umpires had failed to pay a free kick for a deliberate rushed behind in round seven and round eight, and this had been relayed to clubs last week.

But he said there had not been a greater focus over the weekend, when Brisbane Lions defender Pearce Hanley and Fremantle's Lee Spurr had free kicks paid against them.

"There is no crackdown ... it's the same interpretation," Kennedy said.

"We stressed to the guys there was to be no over-reaction - we have missed two of these up to round eight. We had 72 games and we had missed two."

Port Adelaide's Jack Hombsch, who had carried the ball over the behind line, and West Coast defender Eric Mackenzie, having soccered the ball through, had avoided free kicks being awarded against them in recent weeks.

The umpires' department had sent a memo with vision of these two incidents to clubs last Wednesday but there has been confusion as to whether there would be immediate change or deliberation at the end of the season. But a copy of the memo written by AFL operations chief Mark Evans shows coaches were "recommended" to remind their players of the rule.

"Hayden and Luke (Ball) are of the view that we have missed a couple of free kicks in the last two weeks that should have been paid for deliberate rushed behind under the current interpretation. A video of these examples is attached and we recommend you make your coaching and playing group aware of these as examples of missed free kicks. They will also be provided to the umpires in their coaching this week," the email said.

On the Spurr free kick, Kennedy said on Monday: "That's very similar to Eric Mackenzie's from the week before - that was sent out to the clubs. He kicks it from a fair way out, you're probably looking at 13 metres, and he kicks it in an uncontested manner. So, according to what we'd sent out to the clubs, and [were] now currently interpreting as rushed behinds, it's a warranted free kick. It was a long way out."

Spurr had soccered the ball towards Richmond's goals, while Hanley had stepped across the goal line after being pressured by Demon Nathan Jones.

On the Hanley free kick, Kennedy said: "He's got a lot of time, in our opinion, and space. He's probably three to four metres away, and has an opportunity to dispose of it prior; he draws the pressure, then takes the ball over the goal line."

Kennedy said on the AFL's Whistleblower program: "We felt we missed a deliberate in round seven and a deliberate in round eight, so we thought what we would do is let the clubs know about those two.

"We coached our umpires, saying we think we missed these under our current interpretation. What happens this week is that two very similar incidents come up, so they're deliberate rushed behinds in our opinion."

Melbourne coach Paul Roos said he thought Hanley had been unlucky to be penalised.

"I thought we were going to look at [the ruling] at the end of the year. I was confused. Maybe I missed the memo, to be perfectly frank, but I thought they were really stiff," he said.

"We saw one last night [Spurr], I think, and I don't like it, to be honest."

Swans coach John Longmire had reminded his players of the interpretation about 90 minutes before Friday night's blockbuster against the Hawks.

In a press release from Evans distributed to AFL-sanctioned media last week, which led on former Magpie and Saint Luke Ball continuing to work in the umpiring department, the league said: "Separately, Mr [Mark] Evans had also notified clubs on a number of key operational points, including the continued use of the shot clock, potential interchanges of players under the blood rule late in matches and a number of other football-related matters.

"The AFL will discuss with the Laws of the Game committee at its next meeting whether the interpretation of deliberate rushed behinds also needs to be tightened in 2017, in line with the changes made to deliberate out of bounds for this season."