AFL Queensland CEO Richard Griffiths has rejected criticism of a poor crowd at Carrara on Saturday night for North Melbourne’s thrilling six-point win over West Coast.

Griffiths said the attendance of 6354 was probably more than the AFL had expected given the circumstances, particularly after a heavy late afternoon downpour that might have turned some people away.

“I wasn’t disappointed at all – I thought it was a good crowd,” he said. “And the good thing was the atmosphere – it was fantastic. The crowd was split - if anything there were more Eagles fans – and they both made a lot of noise.

“It was a great game of footy and I’m sure everyone went home well satisfied by a terrific night’s entertainment – a terrific night of footy.”

West Coast suffered their first loss at Carrara when they went down 12-11-83 to 13-11-89 in a nail-biter that was ultimately decided by Matthew Campbell’s goal late in the final term.

The Eagles had been undefeated on five previous visits to the Gold Coast from 1987-92, posting four wins and a draw against the Brisbane Bears in which Queenslander Ray Windsor kicked a goal after the siren to give the then home side a share of the points.

The AFL is awaiting a report from the Gold Coast City Council on how a member of the public apparently turned off one of the Carrara light towers late in the game.

With scores level at the 17-minute mark of the final term, the lights on the tower in the south-east corner went out.

AFL ground operations manager Jill Lindsay, on duty at the match, claimed the lights had been deliberately turned off.

The tower was operating under a generator due to damage suffered a couple of months ago in a storm and was the subject of an ongoing insurance claim by the Gold Coast City Council, she said.

“There was some damage to the transformer a couple of months back and it’s an insurance issue at the moment,” Lindsay said.

“The ground manager told me that to push the button and turn it off, you’d know what effect it would have. So obviously it’s an issue we’ll need to follow up with the Gold Coast City Council, who manage the venue for us.”