Originally Posted by
Sockeye Salmon
There are two reasons players rush a point.
1. Nothing else they can do.
Defenders can no longer defend. They can't knock the ball out of bounds, they can't dive on it. When they're going for a mark they can't touch the arms when they spoil or place their hands anywhere near their opponents back (whether they push or not).
2. The reward is worth it.
By giving away a point you not only get the ball but you get it immediately, before your teammates are manned up. The reward is not only possesion, but quite possibly possesion up the other end.
Giving them the ball back after their teammates have been manned up will go some way towards reducing the advantage gained by rushing the point in the first place.
Removing the stupid hands-in-the-back and chopping-the-arms rules will stop forward from continually being gifted goals they didn't deserve. If defenders can actually defend instead of being witches hats for forwards, coaches won't have to resort so much towards flooding to stop goals.