Hawks handed AFL fine for covering camera

Hawthorn have been slapped with a suspended $10,000 fine by the AFL for tampering with a broadcast camera during their loss to West Coast.

A fixed Seven Network camera in the Hawks' change rooms at Subiaco was covered with a towel when ruckman Jonathon Ceglar was taken from the field on Friday night with a knee injury.

AFL football chief Mark Evans said in a statement issued on Wednesday that such action was expressly prohibited.

However, the relatively lenient penalty was given due to the serious nature of the injury to Ceglar.

The 25-year-old, who covered the camera, will be sidelined for up to 12 months after rupturing an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).

Evans said the AFL had taken into account that Ceglar was upset and therefore the sanction would be fully suspended.

"(But) it was the AFL's view the player could have been taken to any of the areas within the rooms where cameras were not stationed when he left the field," the statement concluded.

Eagles ruckman Nic Naitanui also ruptured an ACL in the match his side won by 25 points.