Australian football is in great shape so don’t start making unwanted changes
STOP messing with the game. That is Port Adelaide star Tom Rockliff’s strong message to the AFL as the league considers major rule changes ahead of next season.
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STOP messing with the game. That is my message to the AFL.
The adage that if it ain’t broke don’t fit it applies to Australian football at its highest level.
As a current player, I am sick and tired of the game being bagged week-in, week-out. The constant criticism of AFL this season — and the ongoing search for new rules to supposedly make it faster, less congested and more high scoring — is bitterly disappointing.
I hear about introducing on-field zones where a certain number of players must be stationed inside 50 for example, slashing interchange rotations, the last touch out-of-bounds rule that is used in the SANFL and even reducing the number of players on the field. These are some of the ideas that have been floated.
I don’t like any of them and fear what the reaction would be if a team lost a final due to one of these unnecessary rules being brought in.
They would change a game that already is in great shape.
Sure, there has been some average to poor matches this year but that’s no different to any season for any sport.
As an example, I googled round 14, 1989, to see what took place in the then VFL.
One match between Essendon and Carlton produced a grand total of 17 goals while in another Hawthorn smashed West Coast by 91 points.
The following week the Eagles managed just one goal against the Bombers, who kicked 25, in a match decided by 142 points.
Scoring isn’t everything.
Port Adelaide’s round 14 clash against Melbourne at Adelaide Oval was an epic, despite there only being 20 goals kicked. The Power booted 11 and the Demons’ nine but it was one of the best and most intense games I have ever played in.
I’m sure those people who watched the game at the ground or on television would agree it was a beauty.
If the game was so bad why would the AFL have record attendances, club membership numbers and broadcast rights and a finals series that is the envy of others?
One of the reasons for some people questioning the standard of AFL in 2018 is the introduction of two new clubs, Gold Coast and Greater Western Sydney, to expand the AFL market.
The Suns entered the competition in 2011 and the Giants in 2012. The new teams have brought almost 100 new players from other leagues into the premier competition.
Obviously, with that big number of extra players there is going to be some teething problems as far as the standard is concerned. But that will sort itself, just as the game will.
Overall, players are fitter, faster, stronger and more professional than they ever have been. This has enabled players to get to more contests and therefore make it a more congested game.
But you can’t ask players to be fitter and more professional and then take an element of the game away from them.
One of the reasons I don’t think goalkicking accuracy has improved over the years, despite the players becoming full-time professionals, is because of the high-pressure nature of the game, which can lead to fatigue.
If the AFL is serious about improving the game and wants to tinker with the rules it should look at reintroducing the third-man up ruck rule and applying a stricter interpretation of the holding-the-ball or incorrect disposal rule.
Getting rid of the third-man up rule has only made the game more congested.
When you don’t have to nominate two ruckmen, which is a confusing rule the field umpires can do without anyway, and allow other players to jump at the ruck contest the ball is often knocked away from the pack for outside runners to swoop on and break away. Let’s allow this to happen more.
The other rule that needs urgent addressing is the holding-the-ball/incorrect disposal one. Umpires simply have to pay more free kicks when players are tackled and don’t dispose of it properly.
Lots of time and money seems to be being wasted on different football committees to come up with ideas of how to improve a game that is far from broken.
Grassroots football — the very fabric of our great game — is in serious trouble.
On a recent trip back to my home state of Victoria I found country football, along with suburban football, is in decline with clubs struggling for player numbers as well as financially.
So perhaps that’s where the AFL should be making its big investment.
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