Collingwood great Tony Shaw says football can recover from COVID-19 shutdown, urging league bosses not to tinker with game
As the AFL considers a radical restructure in the wake of the COVID-19 shutdown, Collingwood great Tony Shaw has pleaded with league bosses not to tinker with a game he says is in “pretty good nick ”.
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Collingwood legend Tony Shaw has urged the AFL not to meddle with the game as it eyes a radical restructure of the competition.
Shaw said Australian rules football was in “pretty good nick ” on the field and that major changes should be restricted to its bloated bureaucracy, including AFL House and club football departments.
“Let’s not throw the baby out with the bath water,” Shaw said.
“I wouldn’t be making wholesale changes to what it was.”
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The AFL is determined to slash club list sizes from about 45 to 35, while permanent 16-minute quarters and 16-a-side teams have also been flagged by prominent football identities.
League football operations boss Steve Hocking and his game analysis team have flirted with starting positions at all stoppages, a last-touch out-of-bounds rule, an extended 18m goalsquare, reduced tackling and a cricket-style challenge system for goal reviews.
In January, the AFL backflipped on a plan to slash the halftime break from 20 minutes to 10 in a bid to maintain the interest of the “Netflix generation”.
“You have a look at our last four or five finals series. How good have they been? They have been sensational,” Shaw said.
“And that means your elite sides are playing to the level we want to see.
“You’re always going to get bad sides – that’s the way football has been since cocky was an egg.
“The game is in pretty good nick to me, but because we’ve got this virus situation everyone is saying, ‘Oh the game is never going to be the same again’. Come on.
“Everybody is in such a rush, but we don’t have to get it straight back to what it was (financially).
“It’s the things behind the scenes like the administration and the size of the football departments that will change and we know why, because we’ve had to cut the numbers.
“We don’t need to make massive changes to the game. The game will work itself out. It’s been around for 150 years and we’re all trying to make up for everything that we’ve lost in something that happens once in a hundred years anyway.”
The 1990 premiership skipper said trimming player salaries, cutting the fat at clubland and reducing AFL administrative wages should take priority in footy’s rebuild.
“Everybody has got to take a hit in the wallet. Don’t worry about that,” Shaw said.
“No disrespect — and I don't want to see anybody out of a job – but maybe we have just been a bit spoiled in how much we have had to spend.”
Geelong star and players’ union president Patrick Dangerfield this month warned that the culling of list sizes would almost certainly require the shortening of matches.
“At Geelong last year we used 39 players … the requirements of a (normal) season – 22 home-and-away games, plus finals (and) the lengths of games – requires a significant list size,” Dangerfield said.
“But if you reduce list sizes, well how does that look if you are expecting players to still play 130-odd minutes with only lists of 30?
“It’s just improbable. It would be near impossible to do and to still provide the same level of quality in the play that we currently have.”
HEAVY MEDDLE
*Proposed changes to the game
Reduced list sizes: The AFL is intent on slashing club list sizes from about 45 to 35 to save costs.
Shorter matches: Quarters have been reduced from 20 minutes to 16 minutes (plus time on) in 2020 (in the event multiple matches need to be played in a shorter period) but could be cut permanently to maintain the interest of the so-called “Netflix generation”.
Starting positions: Six-six-six starting positions were introduced for all centre-bounces last year in a bid to increase scoring, which did not happen. Starting positions at all stoppages have been trialled as a nuclear option.
16-a-side: Coaching great Leigh Matthews says fewer players on the ground will open up the play, despite an AFL charter declaring that 18 players is a “fundamental element” of the game.
Last-touch out-of-bounds rule: Already used in the women’s game and the SANFL in a bid to speed up play.
Reduced tackling: AFL football boss Steve Hocking is on record saying he doesn’t want excessive tackling being a “feature of the game”.
Extended 18m goalsquare: A radical Hocking proposal aimed at clearing congestion rejected by the AFL commission two years ago.
Prior opportunity: AFL boss Gillon McLachlan says he favours a weakening of the “prior opportunity” rule, while Nathan Buckley wants it eliminated completely.
Shorter halftime break: The AFL backflipped on a plan to reduce the longer break from 20 minutes to 10 in January after fierce supporter backlash.
Interchange rotations: Currently capped at 90 but could be tightened further.
Kicking rules: Malcolm Blight has called for the length of kicks to be extended for a mark from 15m to 20m and any kick backwards to be adjudged play on.
Bonus points: Leigh Matthews has raised the prospect of a bonus ladder point for teams that kick over 100 points as an incentive for higher scoring.
Goal review system: A cricket-style captain’s challenge was floated by the league before the coronavirus crisis.
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