What we want to see - and avoid - in the 2019 AFL premiership season

A new AFL season opens with hope and expectation for every club and fan. What do we want to see - and what do we want to avoid in Season 2019?

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AFL Season 2019 begins with a massive transformation of the rule book as league football boss Steve Hocking seeks to put the beauty back in the elite game of Australian football.

Hocking says he wants to make the players get back to being “instinctive”; the coaches feeling “strategic tension to work though” and the fans to see an “enhanced game to 2018”.

So what do we want to see in Season 2019 - and not see? Here is the top five plus plus list.

WE WANT TO SEE

1. SCORE REVIEW

Clearly, the technology is not able to deliver faultless review of contentious scoring moments in AFL games. In fact, there is not even the same technology at every game. But we still wish the reviews could be done quicker - and with greater certainty.

What was it that Port Adelaide president David Koch said at his club’s annual meeting about new technology being considered for this season? And what chance is there that the AFL Record will name the score review umpire in the same way cricket tells the fans who is the “third umpire” managing the video replays?

2. UMPIRES’ POSITIONING

SA umpiring great Murray Ducker has for a long time argued that AFL umpires get themselves into a bind by being in the wrong position to see free kicks. This is more relevant this season with the amendment to the hands-in-the-back rule.

Players can now place hands in the back of an opponent to hold ground at a marking contest without risk of conceding a free kick - provided there is no pushing motion to remove the opponent from the contest.

Execution of this rule very much requires the umpire to be in the right position.

3. OPEN LOCKER ROOMS

AFL players virtually have to be “booked” for interviews after matches as clubs - and their media managers - hold tight control as to who speaks.

But the AFL Players’ Association - and its high-profile players - note their incentive to grow the sport and collect more in the collective bargaining agreement does rest on how the players promote the game. They are becoming envious of the freedom their American professional colleagues have with open locker rooms after matches.

Well, Patrick Dangerfield - do it. Tell the clubs that the locker room is the player domain - and it will be the players (and not the clubs) that will manage the locker room with open access. And then get on with promoting the sport.

And while you are at it Patrick, see if you can get the AFL players to be like their AFLW counterparts in knowing the name of the interviewer rather than answering with “mate”.

4. RE-THINK THE BYE

GILLON McLachlan think he had a win by introducing the bye between the end of the home-and-away season and the start of the top-eight finals. This was to stop tanking in Round 23 by teams that had nothing to gain - and plenty to lose by injury - by putting their stars on the field for a meaningless home-and-away game.

There is a terrible loss of momentum leading to the finals. And a free kick to many other sports on this weekend free of AFL football.

Can some at AFL House please accept wildcard play-offs to the final eight with two knock-out games for 7 v 10 and 8 v 9.

5. INJURY LISTS

KNOWING who is playing - and not playing - is more important to the fans than ever before. They are engrossed in fantasy teams. They are being encouraged to bet.

And the clubs still pull the wool over the fans’ eyes with misinformation on injuries. Even some of the club website videos from the high-performance managers are more mysterious for the use of jargon than lectures on Albert Einstein’s equation for special relativity.

It is time AFL headquarters acted on this with stricter guidelines - and penalties - on detailing injuries. More so when the AFL clubs are closing out independent media outlets from reporting on training sessions.

NO THANKS

1. RACISM

ENOUGH. Enough. And it is time the AFL accepts there is much more work to do on the terraces with education rather than threats.

2. MORE JARGON

EACH year another word, phrase or term comes into the Australian football dictionary without warning to the fans.

In the pre-game and post-match interviews with coaches, there are statements that can leave you to believe they do not even speak English at team meetings.

Sometimes a player goes “down back” - to defence. Sometimes a player goes “up forward” - to attack. And no-one can find an AFL field that is on a slope. Even the old Bellerive ground in Hobart has lost its hump with the redevelopment.

And while we are at it, why do the AFL telecasters persist with graphics revealing the “official crowd”? Is there also an “unofficial crowd” figure?

3. OVERUSE OF STATISTICS

AUSTRALIAN football fans once mocked American baseball for having a statistic on everythings - such as the batting average of a player facing a right-handed pitcher while playing in a field with the wind blowing from left to right across the plate.

We are not far away from having numbers for the sake of numbers in Australian football. “Metres gained” is becoming one of these, particularly in a game where moving backwards to create more space is critical.

4. BRAVEHEARTS

MEMO to Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley: Your fans (and a fair few outside the Power fan base) are tired of the liberal use of “brave” in your statements.

5. MIXED INTENTIONS

WHY must football commentary on television and radio be confused by the mixed loyalties of club board members and player managers? Is the market that short of talent?

And why would any television producer think it appropriate to send these board members into the changerooms of AFL rivals, particularly in derby games?

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