AFL gets reminder of how good Australian football is with its current

A superb run of five AFL games, each decided by less than a goal, should give AFL football boss Steve Hocking reason to rethink where the game has its real problems

Dramatic finishes in five AFL games from Friday night to the Sydney-Collingwood match at the SCG on Saturday night prove Australian football can still produce great contests with its current rule book. Picture: Ryan Pierse (Getty Images)

• No time for Pyke to savour victory
• ‘Monumental mistake’: Hinkley fumes at score review
• ‘I think it hit the post’: Jenkins comes clean on winning goal
• Never-say-die Crows muddy Port’s finals hopes
• Analysis: Another epic derby to give the AFL new faith

IT is still the greatest game in the world. All it needs is AFL House to focus on why not every game will be great — and that has very little to do with the rule book.

And after seven years of contentious score review — that becomes the hot topic of the week from Showdown 45 — the AFL has to accept every sports controlling body should own, manage and adapt its goal-line technology rather than rely on its broadcasters.

Josh Jenkins after kicking the winning goal, which he later admitted he thought hit the post. Picture: SARAH REED

From Friday night — when Brownlow Medallist Gary Ablett missed the chance to end Richmond’s dominant 19-win run at the MCG — to Saturday night — when Sydney novice Tom McCartin nailed a goal of the year contender while lying on his side — “Australia’s Game” was superb.

Five classic contests with five epic finishes — Richmond by three points, Hawthorn by three, Sydney by two, North Melbourne by three with Brisbane Rising Star Cam Rayner again proving players should not be too cute with goalkicking … and, of course, the Showdown with Adelaide by three points (five of which are up for debate from score review).

When new AFL football boss Steve Hocking gets to his office in Melbourne today, he should forget his proposed new rules that were tested in the VFL on Saturday to ask what would not have happened in Remarkable Round 20 with his new rule book.

AFL media release attached on score review matter from rd20 Adelaide Oval match. pic.twitter.com/QpqJcjdOXc

— Patrick Keane (@AFL_PKeane) August 4, 2018

Then he needs to answer to all one big question: How can score review be taken seriously when it is reliant on differing technology and cameras from venue to venue?

Showdown 45 was another classic for the AFL greatest modern rivalry. But Hocking would derail a repeat of this derby with his new rules.

Tactically, the game did not suffer as a spectacle — or from congestion — by Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley adding an extra spare to his back-seven defence. The 6-6-6 starting positions ban this next season.

“The game is OK … it is in pretty good shape. Maybe (the new rules) are purely for television,” Hinkley said in a telling post-derby strategic hit.

For tension, the Showdown has a classic moment midway through the last term when Power defender Dan Houston is harassed by the Eddie Betts on a kick-in. This goes with the goalsquare being expanded from nine to 18 metres.

There is an equivalent moment with experienced Essendon defender Brendon Goddard at the MCG in the last term that gave Hawthorn its winning moment.

Hocking needs to focus on his umpiring department — in particular with 50-metre penalties and score review, issues that do not go away even with new rules. Investing in technology at every AFL venue is paramount too.