Damien Hardwick addresses new AFL holding the ball rule, impact on Matt Rowell

Matt Rowell has been charging towards being considered an elite AFL midfielder this year. But, the AFL’s holding the ball tweak could stunt his progress. Here’s why.

Gold Coast coach Damien Hardwick believes the directive for umpires to blow the whistle sooner has already had a positive impact, as he put his midfield on notice after having its colours lowered against Carlton last weekend.

Hardwick was vocal in his desire for change in his post-match press conference, declaring player safety was at risk if umpires did not blow their whistle earlier during contested situations.

“Yeah I thought they did a good job,” Hardwick said on Friday.

“It was certainly noticeable that they were blowing the whistle quicker, which is good. We asked for the health and safety of players and the ability for players to keep and hold them in the tackle and I think they did a really good job of that.”

Matt Rowell handballs while being tackled against Carlton. Picture: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

Much of Hardwick’s commentary was centred on player safety, however another aspect many hope the shift in interpretation will change is congestion around the ball which has become a key talking point this season.

The idea is that by shortening prior opportunity players will be more likely to dispose of the ball in the tackle rather than hold it in and force a stoppage.

Hardwick believes that shift should naturally come as players adapt to the change.

“What we want to try and do is get the players to take on the responsibility to move the ball quicker,” he said.

“The one thing that’s becoming more and more apparent as stoppages start to creep up is players will take the tackle on. But … if the umpires pay more free kicks around holding the ball, the players will soon learn.

“The more we can put the responsibility back on the players and off the umpires is a good thing.”

Rowell is known for his ability to bust a tackle. Picture: Michael Klein

One player expected to be among the most impacted by the change is Suns midfielder Matt Rowell.

Rowell ranked equal-second in the AFL entering round 12 for holding the ball frees against – a by-product of his contested game and willingness to fight through a tackle.

Hardwick conceded Rowell would have to be one of the first to change his approach to taking on tacklers.

“One thing Rowelly does really well is he does try to move the ball on. He has great strength around the contest and he’ll adjust and we’ll train him accordingly,” Hardwick said.

“He knows now the time has been shortened. It will be a little bit of suck it and see with regard to how it goes and he’ll learn as time progresses, but we still think he’ll be a really dominant player.

“We look forward to how he responds this week.”

Gold Coast’s midfield was soundly beaten by Carlton. Picture: Josh Chadwick/AFL Photos/via Getty Images

The Suns coach had a blunt message for his midfield group after last Saturday’s loss to Carlton, conceding they were completely outclassed by the Blues’ on-ball brigade.

And Hardwick put his incumbent midfielders on notice ahead of Sunday’s clash with Essendon, revealing the coaching staff could look to some fresh faces in the middle if his stars did not offer a response.

“It’s not often our midfield gets beaten like it did. I thought they (the Blues) were harder, bigger, stronger in and around the contest.

“We understand that you want to back in your players, but also when things aren’t going well we need to change things up. There’s some lessons to be learned from us with regard to that, but they’ve generally been pretty good in that facet of the game and we were disappointed last week.

“(We) expect a better result this week.”