Players are given a short period of time to follow the play down the field before the clock is restarted.
50-metre penalties are primarily used to deal with time-wasting or unsportsmanlike conduct after a mark or free kick is awarded.
There are also two types of in-play infringement for which a 50-metre penalty is automatically applied on top of the initial free kick.
Former AFL coaches Kevin Sheedy and Leigh Matthews backed the implementation of a 25-metre penalty; Matthews suggested having both penalty options available to the umpires depending on the severity of the infraction, although he conceded that offering both options would make it harder for umpires as well as potentially tempt players to test the threshold.
There was an exception to this rule made in 2000, when a 50-metre penalty would automatically be awarded against any player who was reported for a non-wrestling offence; so unpopular was the change that it was repealed after seventeen rounds.