First five rounds of AFL season to reveal true impact of new rules, Mark Robinson writes

It’s only been one weekend of practice matches but the new rules have already had a major impact and it could spark backlash for the AFL.

The Cats will be hard to stop with Jeremy Cameron and Tom Hawkins inside 50. Picture: Michael Klein

Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley sensed something was weird the more the game was played out.

By the end Port, had taken 190 marks.

Adelaide was meek at best and pitiful at worst but, still, 190 marks in a game footy is insane.

If this was a regular season game, 190 marks would’ve been the most taken in a single match in the history of the game.

And under new rules, Hinkley believes even more marks could be taken in a game this season.

“It’s clearly a big number and the way the game is played it gives you the opportunity to mark the ball more often that not,” Hinkley told the Herald Sun.

“And potentially that number could be beaten during the year.

“It will depend on what day you have and what game you get.

“We sensed there were a lot of marks, but there was no intent to take a lot of marks.”

After one weekend of pre-season matches — and as coaches, players, media and fans assess the results of changes to the game — there’s no doubt the game has more ball movement and less congestion.

Five Port players took 10 or more marks against the Crows.

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Port Adelaide broke the marks record in the pre-season clash against Adelaide. Picture: Getty

Dan Houston (16 marks) and Aliir Aliir (14) were prevalent in defence because the Crows lost shape ahead of the ball and Riley Bonner (15), Zak Butters (10) and Ollie Wines (10) roamed the midfield.

Hinkley said it was not about changing their game style from being a surge, clearance, forward-half team to a kick-and-pop team.

“I’d like to think we are composed footy team, whether that’s by using speed or the option of marking the ball,’’ he said.

“But the way we … expect our game to be high intense.’’

Port’s marking number was the hysterical statistic from the pre-season weekend.

But Richmond’s marking number, while less dramatic, was stark for coach Damien Hardwick.

The Tigers recorded 136 marks against Collingwood on Friday night.

Last season, they averaged a normalised 85.4 marks per match.

“We took 120 uncontested marks; that’s normally a two-game total for us,’’ Hardwick said in his post-match interview.

“It’s a different look and we’ll do a little bit of work on that and see whether it’s something we have to work our way through.”

By extension, pressure was markedly down in the pre-season.

Pressure is categorised as tackling and harassing and corralling.

Mark stats were up during the pre-season matches. Picture: Michael Klein

Last year’s league average was 185. At the weekend it dropped to 171.

In the Port Adelaide and Richmond games, it was difficult to try to tackle/harass when so many marks were taken.

It has to be noted, the two worst pressure teams were Adelaide and Collingwood.

Last season the Dons recorded two of the three worst pressure games — 155 against Melbourne in Round 18 and 162 against Fremantle in Round 1 — so new coach Ben Rutten would be thrilled with that number.

Overall, tackles dropped from an average 63 last season to 49 at the weekend.

Fox Footy analyst David King said several times in commentary the pressure applied between the arcs had diminished.

Tackles in that zone dropped from 39 to 31.

True, the data is one weekend old, and they were practice matches, but could footy replace the rolling maul with a game of keepings off?

We’ll know more after five rounds.

HOW CATS CAN CASH IN ON NEW RULES

- By Jon Ralph

Geelong premiership star Cam Mooney says new AFL rules will drag back the leading forward from the verge of football extinction.

And the beloved Cats key forward says Geelong must cash in with its two power forwards and win that elusive premiership by quicker ball movement through the corridor.

Fox Footy expert Mooney said he had feared the art of hitting up at the ball carrier as a forward had been dying out given zoning defences and slow ball movement.

The league’s game analysis committee will now meet on Friday to consider the fallout from the changes, which include 75 interchanges, freezing the man on the mark and a deeper launch zone from full back.

The Cats will be hard to stop with Jeremy Cameron and Tom Hawkins inside 50. Picture: Michael Klein

But the Herald Sun reported on Monday proposed tweaks to give umpires more discretion are likely not needed given the pace at which players have adjusted to the changes.

Some clubs had players kicking out who regularly reached the centre square as scores skyrocketed from 75 points in 2020 (normalised for game length) to 88,6 points for what was admittedly a single AAMI series round.

Clubs will put in place defensive mechanisms to slow ball movement but after only five 50m penalties for players moving on the mark the league is already thrilled with the implementation of the changes.

For a club like Geelong with dual Coleman Medallists in Tom Hawkins and Jeremy Cameron it could give them a distinct competitive advantage.

“The one thing I have hated in our game for a while is the lead-up forward has died out,” Mooney told the Herald Sun.

“That was virtually my game and you don’t see those blokes any more. Thankfully in the last 12 months clubs have left a big power forward like Tom Hawkins or Dustin Martin inside 50, but I watched the games on the weekend and watched live at Geelong and it’s going to be a brilliant rule.

“It’s going to quicken the game up. Unfortunately we might see some injuries early which we have already have, but I would cop that over seeing the game improve from a scoring perspective.

“This is like watching Geelong in its heyday when they took it fast up the middle.”

Mooney is embracing Geelong’s aggressive trade and free agency attitude which has brought them a trio of experienced stars in Isaac Smith, Jeremy Cameron and Shaun Higgins.

“From Geelong’s point of view this is as good a chance as they will get (to win a flag again),” he said of a team which has fallen agonisingly short on repeat occasions since the trio of premierships from 2007-2011.

“I loved it when they went and got Cameron and then Smith and Higgins, they just bring a bit of class. Whether it gets them over the line we will wait and see.

“I still think Geelong need to move the ball quicker. Even on Saturday night (against Essendon) when they moved it slow, they are defended pretty easily.”

Mooney says scores will increase not only because of greater ball speed but because of the capacity of forwards to take marks in front of goal.

Tom Hawkins kicked 49.36 last year despite relentlessly being forced wide on his leads and often being forced to kick from deep in the pockets.

“Any time you can move the ball quick before a defence settles you will get easier shots. It’s the golden rule. You want more goals from both Hawkins and Cameron but Geelong doesn’t need them kicking all the goals, good teams share the load,” he said.

Originally published as First five rounds of AFL season to reveal true impact of new rules, Mark Robinson writes