Dermott Brereton back Hawks’ mosquito fleet to overcome new ducking rules, lauds Swann’s call
Hawthorn great Dermott Brereton has backed Hawthorn’s small forward to adjust to new rules designed to stop ducking, while heaping praise on Greg Swann for bringing the tweak in.
Hawthorn champion Dermott Brereton has backed the Hawks’ fleet of small forwards to adjust to new anti-ducking rules which see them lose prior opportunity if they shrug off a tackle.
And Brereton has hailed new AFL football boss Greg Swann for introducing the new rule given a fleet of Lions players at Swann’s old club have also adopted the tactic in recent years.
Swann has joined the AFL from Brisbane and put in place seven new rules which will attempt to streamline umpiring and potentially reduce game time by several minutes.
Brereton has been the chief critic of players shrugging their shoulders in a tackle or dropping their knees in an attempt to win a free kick.
Hawthorn’s trio of Dylan Moore, Nick Watson and Jack Ginnivan have all been exponents of the arm shrug and knee drop, winning their share of free kicks for the practice.
Brereton is hopeful the rule change is part of a greater focus on the AFL forcing players to get rid of the ball when they have other options to ensure more flow rather than stoppages.
“I like the rule. It will make for a more honest contest between the ball carrier and the tackler,” he said.
“Well done to Swanny because it’s one of those rules where Brisbane have a fleet of players who drop the knees and shrug the shoulders. Zac Bailey does it, Josh Dunkley does it, Jaspa Fletcher does it. So Swanny has changed it for the betterment of the game.
“Some lads are going to have to alter their reaction to imminent tackling. Dylan Moore has been good at it but has eased up a bit. Jack Ginnivan and the Wizard (Watson) have made it part of their repertoire. They are going to have to use the shoulder shrug as an escape mechanism, not as a device to milk a free kick.”
Five-time premiership great Brereton believes the current rules allow too many players to absorb a tackle and force a stoppage instead of penalising them if they do not release the ball.
“The last time I looked it up there were an average of 150 tackles a game and not only including chase-down tackles from behind, the umpires awarded 5.5 holding the ball tackles. That says we are slanted in the wrong direction. Tackling is an art form.
“These days you absorb the tackle and it’s a stoppage and everything clogs up. 30 years ago in the same scenario if the tackle was imminent you would knock the ball on. The rules allow us to play safe so forcing someone who has shoulder-shrugged to lose prior opportunity and then knock it on should make for a cleaner, more open game.
“There are still going to be blokes who are very good at lowering their body height by turning into the tackler and driving into him after they pick the ball up or by doing the splits so there will be players who disguise it well but as always its on the umpires to detect those actions which are designed to milk free kicks.”
Originally published as Dermott Brereton back Hawks’ mosquito fleet to overcome new ducking rules, lauds Swann’s call
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