Quote Originally Posted by mjp View Post
Well...we've been practicing this rule.

With no goal-square as soon as the goal crosses the line you can basically pick up the spare footy and go...the man on the mark (who has to be 5m back) is just not in play.

This is a BIG change to the game - I know it seems trivial when you read about it, in practice it makes a big difference to the speed a ball leaves the zone. The 'down the line' player will be needed for kicks and free kicks from the pockets (or the goal-square of course) but this is usually a simple numbers battle around the bail-out kick and all the team with the ball is 'really' expecting is a boundary throw in 60m from goal (aka get it the hell out of here, reset and live to fight another day).
What's a 'down the line' player? A tall forward we can use as bail out option?