AFL Daily: the AFL will continue to tinker with the match review process amid consistency criticism

THE AFL has officially foreshadowed more changes to its judiciary in the off-season after criticism over consistency of the first-year match review officer this year.

THE AFL has officially foreshadowed more changes to its judiciary in the off-season after criticism about its consistency this year.

But AFL football operations boss Steve Hocking says it is up to players complaining about heavy fines to change their on-field behaviour. Paul Roos this week savaged the decision to penalise Adelaide’s Taylor Walker only one week for his hit on Geelong’s Zach Tuohy. RULES: AFL FORGES AHEAD WITH RULES CHANGES RE-CAP ALL THE DAY’S BREAKING NEWS IN THE BLOG BELOW RUNNER: AFL ISSUE SWANS WITH PLEASE EXPLAIN It was graded only careless - as almost every bump without a raised elbow in football is - when clearly Walker made a beeline for Tuohy and ran past the ball. Hocking admits the removal of the reckless grading has removed some flexibility, with only two intent gradings; careless and intentional. But as the Herald Sun has revealed, the league will make changes around the bump rule and careless/intentional touching of umpires. AFLPA president Patrick Dangerfield has complained about a string of fines for misconduct and careless of touching of umpires. Hocking makes no apologies for ensuring a hard-line stance on umpire contact and players being fined for punching each other. “It’s my first year in the role and you inherit things. We will adjust. If people think where it currently is, is where it’s going to be next year, that’s not the case,’’ he said. “The upside around the MRO has been (releasing decisions quickly) after Thursday and Friday night games. “Has there been a lack of consistency around touching of umpires? That is another area we will need to revisit at the end of the year and address it. “There has been talk around how many players have been fined. We have talked a lot here about changing behaviour, it just takes time. “There was a time where the centre square was introduced and when I was a player it was infringed upon all the time. You don’t see that now. “It just takes time to educate the players.” Dangerfield and Melbourne captain Nathan Jones have recently criticised the AFL fining players for trivial matters. If a player accepts guilty pleas on three incidents in a year that draw fines, he will have paid a total of $10,000 through a $2000, $3000 and $5000 fine. “It is a huge whack to pay fines, some of them are 10 grand at the moment. There is a real balance we need to find with regard to player fines,’’ Dangerfield said this year. “Jimmy Bartel brought this up around football acts. I don’t think players should be fined for football acts. If it’s a bump in the rules of the contest, because the AFL doesn’t want to suspend players and they revert to fines instead and thinks that will deter them. “I don’t think we have got it quite right, especially with some acts where you say, “This is a contested game”, and there are instances that happen that you can’t control.” Watch every match of every round of the 2018 Toyota AFL Premiership Season. SIGN UP NOW >

Originally published as AFL Daily: the AFL will continue to tinker with the match review process amid consistency criticism