AFL rule changes: Fox Footy experts nominate their best ideas
As debate rages about the state of football, one former player says the fix is simple. Here’s Nick Dal Santo’s idea to speed up footy, plus how Leigh Montagna and Brad Johnson would tweak the game.
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Round 4 in the AFL threw up no shortage of talking points.
We asked three Fox Footy experts for their views on three topics, covering the state of the game, Matthew Rowell’s first four matches for Gold Coast Suns and the if Greater Western Sydney’s Toby Greene gets a bad run with the umpires.
What one rule would you change to improve the game and why?
BRAD JOHNSON
Six-time All-Australian for Western Bulldogs
I would change that if a team kicks it outside defensive-50 then goes back inside defensive-50 with a backwards kick, that kick then becomes play-on. What’s frustrating me at the moment is a team that will go outside defensive-50, get the ball to 60m or 70m out. What’s happening is they go backwards to say 30m and the opposition goal and the opposition will compress and man the mark. That guy is then 30m out from his goal again and he kicks it back to where we all started from. If that ball back is play-on, clubs are only going to go there if they can run and switch, which will open the game up if they can do that. At least then we see the ball going forward.
NICK DAL SANTO
Three-time All-Australian for St Kilda and North Melbourne
The first thing I would do is lengthen the distance which is classified as a mark from 15m to 20m and if the number ultimately becomes 25m after that, I’m okay with that. I just think it needs to be extended to make it more challenging for the kicker. The other thing is properly adjudicating what is 15m, because there’s a lot of players getting away with what is not 15m to start with. If it goes to 20m, it makes those short kicks at least somewhat legitimate.
LEIGH MONTAGNA
Two-time All-Australian for St Kilda
I’m big on getting the ball moving faster. When players take a mark, the umpire normally gives them about seven seconds before they tell them to move along and then another two or three seconds before play-on is called. I would say when they take a mark, they’ve got five seconds to take a kick or it’s play-on. For me, it’s the short kicking and uncontested marks that are boring the game and stifling the game. If a team wants to do that, no worries. But the ball’s got to stay in motion more.
Is Matthew Rowell the best first-year player since Nathan Buckley at Brisbane in 1993?
Johnson: Let’s judge that in another 14 weeks. We can’t judge that now. It’s been an unbelievable start. His first four games have been outstanding, they really have. And he’s been a big part of the reason why Gold Coast have got the results they have in the last three weeks. He’s going to be a star this year but is he going to be as good as Nathan Buckley or others throughout the year? Let’s just let him complete the full season first.
Dal Santo: It’s the best four games I think I’ve ever seen, either as a player or in the past four years working in the media. What he does for the rest of the year will be easier to judge later on when you’re talking about comparing him to Bucks and Sam Walsh and Chris Judd and these guys. But I don’t think we can sit here and say there’s been a better first four games than what we’ve seen from Matty Rowell.
Montagna: Yep, absolutely. I can’t, in my lifetime, think of anyone’s first four games that have been better than his. He already is a star. Buckley was 20 years old in his first game for Brisbane so he had two years on Matty Rowell. When you think about that, what Rowell is doing at 18 is absolutely incredible.
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Does Toby Greene get a fair run with the umpires?
Johnson: He would probably say no and GWS would probably say no to that. You’d like to think that he is just judged on the contest to contest. I’m not sure whether umpires go, ‘Toby Greene’s going for that one, I’m not going to pay a free kick’. That’s not the way it works or the way the umpires operate. So I’d say he’s judged contest to contest that he’s involved in. It’s not about who he is as an individual. He’s just been a bit unlucky.
Dal Santo: If there’s ever a 50-50, it goes against Toby. I think that’s the way to put it. I played with Lindsay Thomas at the Kangaroos for three years and he just seemed like he was one of those players as well where if it was 50-50, it went against him. Toby’s in that category.
Montagna: He doesn’t. I’m glad people made comment on that over the weekend because I was watching the footy on Friday night and thought the exact same thing as everyone else. I don’t think it’s deliberate, but umpires are human and maybe subconsciously there’s something in it. It just does seem like he gets a harsh run from the umpires.