The AFL have conceded Hawthorn should have been penalised for briefly having 19 men on the field during Friday night’s win over Carlton.

The incident happened during the second quarter after Blues star Adam Cerra kicked a goal to put his side 10 points up.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Hawthorn caught with too many players on the ground.

As everyone went back to their starting positions and the umpire was getting ready to bounce the ball, there was a major problem.

Hawthorn had 19 players on the ground.

Winger Harry Morrison appeared to be the player at fault, or else he realised first, and quickly sprinted from the field.

Gone are the days of the offending team having their score wiped, but the Hawks were lucky to escape with just a 6-6-6 warning from the umpire.

After reviewing the incident, the AFL said a free kick and 50m penalty should have paid to Carlton. The league also gave Hawthorn an official warning.

The incident happened with the Blues leading by 10 points, so another shot at goal could have put them up by 16 points just before half-time.

“During the second quarter of last night’s game following the Adam Cerra goal and a subsequent interchange of players, Hawthorn had 19 players on the field as the teams were resetting for the bounce,” the AFL said in a statement.

“Upon realising this, the AFL interchange official notified Hawthorn who took steps to rectify the error before play resumed.

“The AFL field umpires paid a 6-6-6 warning as Hawthorn were lined up with seven players in one of the sections of the field.

“Upon review of the situation post-match, it is the view of the AFL that the AFL interchange official should have considered it a major breach, alerted the umpires and Carlton should have been awarded a free kick and 50m penalty from the centre.

“The AFL has now provided Hawthorn with a warning in relation to their process for managing player rotations.”

7NEWS chief AFL reporter Mitch Cleary revealed details of the incident post-match.

“Harry Morrison, you can see here on the wide shot, charging to the bench,” Cleary explained on Channel 7.

“I think Hawthorn had 19 players for about 10 or 15 seconds.”

Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell shed more light on the blunder during his post-match press conference.

“The bench guys were saying someone came off and then didn’t realise someone had come on and no one had come on, so he ran back on,” Mitchell said.

“It was just a miscommunication that obviously cost us a 6-6-6 warning and we then got another one, so it was a free kick, we need to be better than that, we need to be more organised.

“The ripple effect of things like second rucks, those things cause us a bit of trouble, so we need to get better in that area, and we would hope that that won’t happen again.”