'It's not going well': Matthew Lloyd slams AFL after going into 'damage control'

Footy legend Matthew Lloyd has taken aim at the AFL over a second "embarrassing" fiasco in the space of a week.

Lloyd was highly critical of the league's handling of the Willie Rioli saga last week, and now head office is scrambling again over an entirely different situation.

Embattled AFL footy boss Laura Kane on Wednesday released a third statement on the umpiring controversy that rocked the league in the Collingwood-Fremantle match last Thursday night, absolving the field umpires of blame and taking "full responsibility" for a "miscommunication".

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The AFL and the umpiring fraternity descended into crisis when play was not stopped to protect Collingwood forward Lachie Schultz, who was concussed while tackling Fremantle defender Jordan Clark in the centre square.

A day after the Optus Stadium match, the AFL said in a statement that the umpires had not stopped play because they weren't aware that Schultz was injured — a statement that left tens of thousands bewildered as to how the whistleblowers could have missed him.

But in an extraordinary twist, audio of the mic'd-up umpires released by Channel Seven on Tuesday night revealed that the umpires did, in fact, know Schultz was in a bad way.

That revelation prompted the AFL to release a second statement in which the umpires were again made to look incompetent.

Making the saga even more explosive was the fact the statement painted the umpires as untruthful.

Questions are now being asked of the AFL administrators after another messy bungle.

"I used the word embarrassing last week over the Willie Rioli handling, and the administration at the AFL has never been under more pressure after this week with what went on," Essendon great Lloyd told Nine's Today on Thursday.

"The AFL said the umpires didn't see it when they actually did see it, and the audio came out, (the umpires) handled themselves really well in that situation. But the AFL hadn't gone back and watched it.

"The umpires actually did it well, but were just let down by the AFL in terms of how it went down.

"Egg all over their face, they've had to go into damage control yesterday and said it was just a breakdown in communication.

"It's not going well at AFL headquarters."

Kane was forced to publicly backpedal on Wednesday night with a third statement in the space of five days.

"Our process in determining what happened Thursday night failed and for that we take full responsibility," Kane said.

"Today we have determined there was a miscommunication from members of the umpiring department, not the field umpires, which formed the basis of our initial public statement on Friday.

"Those team members have been counselled and reminded of the importance of ensuring our process is fully followed regarding these types of incidents and in this instance it was not.

"I have asked GM football performance Josh Mahoney to review these processes to ensure the right information is communicated and to ensure this does not happen again.

"Everyone, including our umpires, are aligned in ensuring the health and safety of players continues to be the utmost priority and the AFL has been in regular contact with the AFLUA [AFL Umpires Association] today."

Earlier on Wednesday, Collingwood football boss Charlie Gardiner said the AFL's handling of the matter had left the club stunned.

"A little bit surprised with some of the internal communications [at the AFL]," Gardiner said.

"But from our perspective, it doesn't really change our position, which was we felt like on the night that play should have been stopped.

"We were contacted [by the AFL] on Friday just as a check-in. They informed us that they felt that the right decision would have been to stop the game, and they followed that with the public position.

"But we haven't had any further contact other than that."

Schultz was on light training duties at Collingwood's Olympic Park headquarters on Tuesday.

Collingwood will face Adelaide at the MCG on Saturday, but Schultz is sidelined indefinitely with his concussion.