GET USED to seeing coaches wearing advanced 'smart' watches on match day.
The latest model of Apple watches, for example, enables users to make/send and receive calls and messages in a technological development the AFL was forced to respond to.
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AFL.com.au understands the AFL updated its Match Day Restricted Area (MDRA) policy and informed the 18 clubs ahead of this season, in part to recognise this potential loophole.
The AFL's head of integrity and security, Tony Keane, oversees the policy.
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Clubs are permitted a certain number of authorised device users – believed to be 10 – within a MDRA, which predominantly covers the coaches' box, interchange bench and changerooms.
Restrictions apply pre-match at teams' playing venue and during the game until the final siren.
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An authorised device user, ranging from media staff to the football operations manager, is allowed to use any communication device, including a smart watch and mobile phones.
AFL.com.au confirmed that Collingwood's Nathan Buckley and Brisbane's Chris Fagan, who both wore smart watches during their Gabba clash on Thursday night, were authorised device users.
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There are potential integrity concerns, particularly in regards to gambling and related corrupt activity.
An AFL integrity official is present at every match in an effort to prevent clubs abusing the policy.
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The AFL's gambling policy prohibits coaches, players, other club staff, match-day officials and accredited media from betting on games or passing on inside information that may be used for these purposes.
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