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Netball Australia has met with the two umpires involved in Super Netball's first send-off and determined they followed the correct process.
Netball Australia's high performance unit has determined the umpires followed the correct process in the historic send-off of Giants goal defence Kristiana Manu'a during their Super Netball clash with Sunshine Coast.
NA umpire officials on Thursday met with the whistle-blowers involved in the send-off for rough play, which was the first in Super Netball history, and later with veteran Giants coach Julie Fitzgerald.
NA issued a statement saying the umpires' actions were correct in warning Manu'a for her first offence before she was sidelined for two minutes for the second, and then sent off, leaving the Giants with only six players for more than nine minutes of the match.
With only one defender left in the goal circle, their seven-point lead fell away to a 58-57 loss.
NA said that the umpires told the Giants, including captain Jo Harten and Manu'a, at halftime that any subsequent offences would result suspensions.
"It was determined the umpires applied the International Netball Federation rules correctly in line with how they interpreted the play on court," NA said in a statement.
"No further action in regard to Wednesday night's incident will be taken."
Former Diamonds skipper Sharni Layton on Friday called for the rule to be changed.
She said that a send-off was too harsh a penalty for a team.
"Whilst Kristiana was 'red carded' it's too detrimental for a sport to allow a team to play a woman down. So I say bring back the 'miss 2 goals' rule unlimited .. yes that's right, bring in THE SIN BIN!!!," Layton tweeted on Friday.
"We've changed other rules so I think this is one rule that needs to GO!!"
Former Australian stars-turned-commentators Liz Ellis and Catherine Cox criticised the umpires' interpretation of "rough play" saying the actions of the Diamonds' hopeful didn't warranted such sanctions.
NA said that they would continue to work with coaches and players at training and during match reviews to improve the understanding of such interpretations.
