Brisbane Lions coach Chris Fagan voices concerns over runner restrictions

Senior AFL coaches still pushing to have unfettered access to their runners reinstalled are set to have their 11th-hour pleas fall on deaf ears.

Senior coaches still pushing to have unfettered access to their runners reinstalled are set to have their 11th-hour pleas fall on deaf ears.

Brisbane Lions coach Chris Fagan voiced his disapproval of the rule change at Wednesday’s Competition Committee meeting and received some support from club figures.

But the Herald Sun understands the AFL won’t budge with runners only permitted to deliver messages after goals this season.

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The dramatic restriction could lead to blowouts because young teams more reliant on mid-game coaching will be disadvantaged.

The second quarter of last year’s epic Grand Final started with 20 goalless minutes, meaning coaches wouldn’t have been able to run messages under the new rule.

Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge has passionately argued to keep runners for several years and hinted as his frustration after Saturday night’s last-gasp loss to Gold Coast.

“We’ve got to rely on our players to be real leaders out there, so we’ve got to prepare them for that because we can’t get messages out there from the bench,” Beveridge said.

Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge says teams will need more on-field leaders. Pic: Michael Klein

“We’ll face our challenges, every team will with that, whereas historically you could get to them and help them in their decision-making.”

Beveridge called reporters back to a press conference in 2017 after recent talk of abolishing runners went unraised.

Fagan, Beveridge and St Kilda’s Alan Richardson are among several coaches who are pro-runners and some have discussed their frustrations privately.

Coaching legend Malcolm Blight can’t understand why the AFL made the change, which was aimed at reducing clutter.

“I don’t see any reason why runners can’t go out onto the ground as often as they like,” Blight said on SEN.

“The coaches are trying to make the game better for their team to win a game of football. It’s one person on the ground. Unbelievable.”

The new rules also mean players have little time to celebrate goals given they must look for the runner plus get back to their 6-6-6 zone.

Runners will operate under tighter guidelines in 2019. Pic: Michael Klein

Brownlow Medallist Patrick Dangerfield’s rare criticism of AFLX was that the game moved so fast it was difficult to celebrate.

“We love celebrating goals and the problem with the six-point plays is it’s just so quick to go back in,” Dangerfield said.

“That’s what you love about the great sports around the world, the celebrations the players give.”

One runner believed he chalked up around 10km in games last year but that was cut to about 2-3km after two pre-season games.

The league tried to reduce the impact by giving clubs LED boards to display messages.

They failed for a multitude of reasons last weekend, most notably a lack of visibility, and clubs are now free to design their own.

The 18 boards cost the league about $80,000.

AFL game analysis official James Podsiadly wrote to clubs this week to further clarify teething problems stemming from the new rules.

The AFL Coaches’ Association does not have a position on runners, primarily because opinions vary among its members.