New rules likely to be trialled this season

[Bornadog]

Re: New rules likely to be trialled this season

My understanding is the centre 6, 2 can actually stand anywhere on the square, wing, forward or back.

MY point is it is a nothing rule, and does nothing to make the game better.

[Sedat]

Re: New rules likely to be trialled this season

But...this is just an opinion. Saying that elimination of prior opportunity will fix congestion is as much of an arse-pluck as any commentary about whether 6.6.6 will make a difference is...

Coaches might be incredibly smart (though I am not so sure this means there are many/any true innovators) but a rule like 6.6.6 - whether you think it will work or not - makes it more of a players game and less of a coaches game...

Preventing them from moving players around like chess pieces, playing extra numbers deep inside d50 etc and forcing 1-on-1 contests following a CBD doesn't sound like a terrible idea to me. And who does it hurt? How does doing this change the 'fabric' of the game? Eliminating prior opportunity will probably lead to players refusing to take possession of the footy inside a contest because they will be penalised for holding the ball...and whilst you say COACHES are smart, I think it is actually PLAYERS who are smart...and the smartest of them will quickly adapt the new rules to their advantage...meanwhile, the rest of us will be screaming at them for 'tapping' at the ball instead of grabbing it...

This is complicated and they need to run some trials. It can't be done in pre-season which the clubs treat as a joke. It can't be done at State level because state footy is a completely different SPORT to AFL footy...it has to be done in the AFL. And however small the sample is (3-games for example) it will be better than NO games. And I saw the link about Freo saying they will have no part of the trials? Ross Lyon has been ruining the game for 10 years and now he is saying he wont help trial any changes? Honestly wish they would just shut up and play...they play in the AFL, not the FreoFL...assisting in creating a better product should be something that they WANT to do.

I might be against the implementation of the above, but only because I genuinely believe that there are existing levers in the rules that can be used to get the same effect. I honestly believe the following will alleviate congestion, promote positional play/corridor ball movement, remove interpretation of rules and increase scoring organically:

1. Umps call ball-up as soon as 2 players have the ball in dispute, not when the cavalry of 20 players arrive
2. Umps then throw it up immediately - absolutely no ruck nominating
3. Get rid of prior opp - onus on player to dispose of the ball and onus on tackler to tackle correctly (too many tackles in the back and high currently not penalised and instead rewarded)
4. Last kick/handball OOB is a free to the opposition - will promote corridor footy and get rid of interpretation of deliberate OOB
5. Start of qtr and centre bounce after a goal - nobody allowed in centre square except the 4 players on each side until ball is out of square (centre square came in the early 70's and increased scoring immediately, ditto OOB on the full which came in around the same time)
6. Drastically reduce rotations - 10 per qtr and none in open play (after a goal only). Happy to increase interchange to 6.

Just in relation to your 2nd last paragraph on tapping it on instead of taking possession, that's EXACTLY what players did prior to the late 90's - they would tap the ball on instead of take possession, depending on the situation. That's because they were smart footballers - there's nothing smart and there's no risk for a player to simply hatch it in the tackle and choosing to wait for the inevitable secondary stoppage. I like seeing smart players make good decisions, and choosing to either take possession or tap to advantage is no less a smart decision than kicking inboard to the fat side or handballing laterally instead of bombing it blindly forward under pressure.

If the above levers don't have the desired effect, I'm all for bringing in artificial means such as 6-6-6 to free up congestion. My worry is that it will add further difficulty to umpiring, which is already horrendously difficult due to the grey areas and far too many rules relying on interpretation. And I'd rather we exhaust all existing options at our disposal first, which we haven't done.

[Bornadog]

Re: New rules likely to be trialled this season

Sedat

The one thing your ideas will not stop is 36 players in one half of the ground.

[Sedat]

Re: New rules likely to be trialled this season

Sedat

The one thing your ideas will not stop is 36 players in one half of the ground.

They will promote much quicker speed of ball movement, and as a result coaches will have no choice but to structure up more traditionally so that they can either take advantage of the space in F50 or defend in D50.

Congestion happens when the ball doesn't move quickly.

[jeemak]

Re: New rules likely to be trialled this season

This is such a polarising argument, everyone thinks their version of how to fix the game is right.

I don't mind the free kick for out of bounds off a direct kick or handball, not a fan of the last touch version. I love watching how teams structure up throw ins, I love watching players break away from them. I don't want the game to lose that aspect.

Immediate ball ups and throw ins, a massive yes for me. How we got ourselves into this position is beyond me, the umpire balling up the ball should just get it done, and if a player makes contact with the umpire trying to get into position or carelessly it should be an immediate free kick and fine. That will take care of the umpire safety aspect.

I don't like the removal of prior opportunity or team holding the ball rules. The tackling capabilities of players is amazing now compared to what it used to be, we need players going for the ball without hesitation.

Fatiguing players will just result in more numbers behind the ball because coaches are inherently defencive. I'll dust off my crackpot theory of incentivising the coaches to actually score more once again...........

[Flamethrower]

Re: New rules likely to be trialled this season

Rather than inventing rules that they just assume will make for a more attractive game - to the theatregoer, not the hard core fan, I just wish they would address the real reason for all the congestion.

Too many players that are not elite caused by too many teams. The most congested games always seem to be when there is a large mismatch between opponents, causing the lesser team to crowd the contest to attempt to nullify the superior team.

[bulldogtragic]

Re: New rules likely to be trialled this season

For me it's simple:

- Zone the ground into three and make them stay in the zone. Like a full forward could be 'goal attack'. That will stop congestion.
- To promote the ball movement through the corridor and kicks to marks inside 50, we could incentivise the goal kicker by taking the shot in correlation to what we could call a 'try'. That should get play away from the wings and boundary line, nullify deliberate OOB or last touched rule.
- To stop thuggish behaviour, we could use some sort of system for our referees to tell players, 'no that's not acceptable'. We could use the international colour of caution, yellow, as a 'card'. And the international colour of angry face, red, as a more serious 'card'.
- To take goal kicking accuracy levels to 100%, for the fans, by simply removing the point posts and eliminating behinds altogether I think we can get goal kicking accuracy to 100%. It's a goal or a miss, no behinds to bring that accuracy rate up. There will be no missed shots on goal stats though, especially for our club.
- If players get too many frees, maybe 5 or 6, they get 'freed' out of the game. This could apply to all.
- I think it will make life easier for our referees if the players jumper numbers relate to their position on the field.
- Insread of AFELX, we could look to get Ice Cube to bring his 3 on 3 concept to our game in the preseason.
- Try a state versus state series.
- Absolutely go to four referees. Our centre square kind of looks like a diamond on an angle, so maybe a referee on each base of the diamond would help make calls better.
- And to really bring in the fans, have folded aluminium chairs dotted around around our ring and when the referee isn't watching, have someone like Zaine Cordy grab one and smack Harry Taylor into retirement.

So a part from these answers, I don't have a definitive position yet. I'd like to see the answers for fixing our game, born from the current questions posed of our game. I'm not sold that big changes need to come along before we've tried many of the smaller changes which could arguably fix them if tried. So perhaps start with seeing if the least fabric changing rule changes work first. If not, then progress up until the results change. The game evolves by players and coaches, and over time the league has had to step in. I'm not adverse to change, but the current mob in AFEL house are the experts of stuffing stuff up or masters of the law of unintended consequence (sliding/lower leg contact, deliberate/insufficient intent boundary, ruck calling etc, etc). So I would think spending the off season reviewing the season in full and working out their best changes and trialling in a preseason format would seem to be the prudent move. For me, at least, it would like I've bought tickets to a special cinema screening of The Godfather Part 1 and just as I'm getting to the baptism scene, the cinema changes the reel to The Godfather Part 3 ending. I want to watch the end of the movie I started watching. Yes it's still The Godfather, but I can watch Part 3 next year if I want to. Just leave me to watch Gil McLaughlin denounce satan and our match committee kill the 5 last chances of winning.

[Twodogs]

Re: New rules likely to be trialled this season

While we are talking about new rules I've wanted to get rid of the need for goal reviews and everyone getting worked up about what they think the ball hit on the way through by just bringing in thatif it bounces off the inside of the goalpost and goes through the goalposts then it's a goal. Why is Aussie rules the only game that it matters if the ball hits the post.

If it goes through for a goal then it's a goal, if it goes through for a behind then it's a behind, if it hits one of the post and bounces back into play then it's play on. It shouldn't matter if it hit anything on the way through.

[azabob]

Re: New rules likely to be trialled this season

MY point is it is a nothing rule, and does nothing to make the game better.

Agree. If my understanding is correct coaches can still have 2 behind the ball before a centre bounce.

[Twodogs]

Re: New rules likely to be trialled this season

What's the penalty likely to be for breaching the 6-6-6 rule? It's in at TAC cup isn't it?

[Ghost Dog]

Re: New rules likely to be trialled this season

In Australia, the more they try to fix the things we love, the more they ruin them. It's a national pastime.

[Mofra]

Re: New rules likely to be trialled this season

What's the penalty likely to be for breaching the 6-6-6 rule? It's in at TAC cup isn't it?

Honestly I've only seen one team get penalized for it and that was Vic Metro at the champs (twice!). From memory it was a free kick where the ball is, which is generally going to be at the other end of the ground.

[Bornadog]

Re: New rules likely to be trialled this season

Honestly I've only seen one team get penalized for it and that was Vic Metro at the champs (twice!). From memory it was a free kick where the ball is, which is generally going to be at the other end of the ground.

and a goal resulted in at least one of those, as they got the free inside 50.

[Topdog]

Re: New rules likely to be trialled this season

I get what MJP is saying that it's the best time to trial it but I'm against rules being changes once the season starts in fact I'm against it once the trade period starts. I suggest that the AFL should hand all teams notice now that if you happen to be in the bottom 6 clubs on the ladder come round 18 in 2019 then these are the rules you will play with for the balance of the season. This gives team sufficient notice to plan and train for it. Participating clubs and their fans should also be compensated for it. Clubs should be incentivized if they win games over and above the 4 premiership points

If the AFL need to make a change of this magnitude then they should pay the unwilling participants in some manner.

YES YES YES! Exactly, come out in October and say in Rounds 18-22 in 2019 we will be trialling the following rules. Not 2 weeks before!

[Axe Man]

Re: New rules likely to be trialled this season

Gil should be in the circus with backflips like these!

Rule change trials 'unlikely' this season: CEO

THE AFL is unlikely to trial rule changes in games this season following intense public backlash and questions about the integrity of the game, CEO Gillon McLachlan says.

On Wednesday, the League boss floated the possibility of introducing major rule changes for up to three games for premiership points in the final five rounds of the season.

However, after McLachlan made those comments on radio station SEN, the reaction from those in the game and from the general public has largely been negative.

Asked whether in-game trials were a feasible thing for this season, McLachlan said it was looking more doubtful by the day.

"I think it's unlikely," McLachlan told 3AW on Friday morning.

"The way it's running is that two-thirds of people think it's a bad idea and a one-third think it's good, that's my assessment after a couple of days."

The core issue is the integrity of the game, according to McLachlan, with prominent AFL greats Leigh Matthews, Matthew Lloyd and Cameron Ling expressing their strong opposition to the idea.

"Clearly some questioned whether it was an integrity issue and that's what I think the majority think, so I don't think you can do it," McLachlan said.

McLachlan hinted that his personal view was that in-game trials this season should be explored further, but was happy to accept the prevailing consensus from knowledgeable people in the game.

Possible rule changes include introducing starting positions, a bigger goal square and reducing interchange rotations.

The AFL Commission must sign off any proposed rule changes made by Steve Hocking and the competition committee should they be raised.

The competition committee met on Wednesday, where the state of the game was discussed in detail.