Kevin Sheedy column: 12 rule changes to save the game
From a bench crackdown to brining back a move outlawed 60 years ago, here are the rule changes Kevin Sheedy would like to see.
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Why are so many people afraid of change?
If you are afraid of change, throw away your mobile phone and give away your computer.
If you think change doesn’t matter, you would still have six o’clock closing for pubs and shops, and we wouldn’t have mandatory seat belts, speeding laws, or .05 drink drive regulations to keep us safe.
Nothing stays the same forever, and neither should it.
The AFL this week announced three changes for the 2021 season — cutting interchange rotations from 90 to 75 per side; a tighter rein on players on the mark; and the mark moved from 10m out from the goalsquare for kick-ins to 15m.
They also announced a trial at VFL level where three players must be stationed inside the 50m arc (including one in the goalsquare) for kick-ins and throw-ins.
Cue the outrage from those fans who say ‘Leave the bloody game alone’.
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The issue is, if we do leave it alone, and allow the coaches to keep their defensive mechanisms producing ugly congestion and the lowest scores in modern memory, we might as well shut up shop.
We need to take ownership off the coaches, who have turned the game into what it is today. They don’t care about anything other than winning and losing (which is fair enough as that is their job), and that means they don’t really worry about what the game looks like.
I’m in favour of these AFL changes, but if it was up to me, I would go even further.
They need to rip the Band-Aid off and bring some chaos back to a game that has become too predictable and too frequently boring.
I’m not talking about the Kaos that Maxwell Smart used to fight in Get Smart, but in footy terms, chaos over control makes for better viewing.
Two legends of the game, Leigh Matthews and Kevin Bartlett, are on the money when they say urgent change is required.
No one wants some of the snooze fests we regularly saw this year.
The AFL should have the courage to make the adjustments required without worrying about upsetting the “flat-Earthers”, as Matthews calls those resistant to change.
Here are some changes I’d urge the AFL to consider in order to make the game more attractive.
1. BANISH BOUNDARY THROW-INS
Boundary throw-ins are a blight on the game.
You get two ruckmen wrestling and whacking the ball back in the direction of the boundary line. Too often all we get is another boundary throw-in.
That makes for ugly footy.
I’d propose when the ball goes out of bounds we should bring it 15-20m in from point of exit and have the boundary umpire throw it up instead.
The ruckmen, instead of facing the boundary line, would be facing their team’s end, potentially allowing for an easier exit from a stoppage.
The ball would be closer to the corridor, too, and further away from the dead zone of the boundary.
It would also mean no more wrestling from the ruckmen.
Just imagine the pressure when the ball comes in 15-20m deep when it goes out of bounds close to goal.
The forwards would sense an opportunity, the backs would be on edge.
How much excitement would that make for the fans and the players!
2. BRING BACK THE FLICK PASS
Hear me out on this one, I haven’t gone mad.
The flick pass was a tactic of years past when players used to flick the ball out with an open hand rather than use a fist in a handball to move it on.
It gained prominence in the early 1920s before being banned before the start of the 1925 season.
It was reinstated in 1934 and worked across three decades before being outlawed again in the middle of 1966.
The legendary Smith brothers argued over it. Len Smith loved it; Norm Smith wanted it banned.
I’d love to see it come back.
We laud great tap-ons in general play, we love it when ruckmen palm the ball out of the ruck, yet we don’t allow players to flick the ball with an open hand.
If we brought it back, it would speed up the game, and keep the play flowing.
Besides, it happens anyway — remember the “Crow throw”? — and the sleight of hand means the umpires almost always miss it.
3. DITCH THE WINGS
This might be too radical for the AFL, but I’d cut the on-field numbers back to 16 per side, and ditch the wings.
If the players association gets annoyed, then the extra two players could be added to an interchange bench of six.
Most wingmen these days aren’t wingmen in a traditional sense. They are pseudo defenders who push back to fill up space and help in the backline.
Losing them from the field would open up the space on the ground and take away some of the congestion.
We’ve seen this before in the old VFA and 16 players per side promotes skill, space and hard running.
It might even bring about more goals.
4. RETURN TO 20-MINUTE QUARTERS
Let’s go back to 20 minutes per quarter.
We understand why the AFL had to cut it back to 16 minutes this season, due to COVID, but it just didn’t feel right.
We don’t know what the footy landscape will look like in 2021, depending on what happens with COVID, but returning to 20 minutes will increase fatigue.
That is almost certain to lead to less congestion and more scoring opportunities.
5. KEEP CUTTING ROTATIONS
This one’s for you, KB.
If the AFL is too conservative to cut the wings out, then it needs to keep cutting interchange rotations.
I would be OK cutting the numbers back to 50, if they keep the playing numbers to 18 per side on the field at any one time.
We must keep the stars out on the ground for longer.
There is nothing more annoying than seeing a star kick a goal and then come off for a rotation.
Just imagine that happening in the English Premier League!
6. BRING IN A 25M PENALTY
A 50m penalty is too harsh for most indiscretions these days.
It also slows the game down, as the players push back as it is unfolding.
Sure, if a bloke whacks an opponent deliberately, the umpires should have the lever to apply a 50m penalty.
But for the most part, a 25m penalty is the appropriate outcome.
7. RAISE THE DISTANCE FOR A MARK TO 20M
It is time we pushed the distance required for marks out to 20m.
This will stop the little chip kicks that no one likes.
Increasing the distance puts the pressure back on the kicker with the risk of turnover — as long as the umpires strictly police the rule.
8. NO MARK WHEN KICKING BACKWARDS
Let’s change the rule governing marks, which would see backward kicks on the defensive side of the centre line being deemed play-on.
This would put an end to the time-wasting tactic that every team uses, particularly late in matches, and that annoys footy fans so much.
No one wants to see the clock being run down.
So if we take away the opportunity by outlawing marks from kicks on the defensive side of the centre, it can only be a good thing for the look of the game.
9. KICK-IN CHANGES
I would put the pressure on the player kicking the ball back into play after a behind.
If the kicker wants to go outside the goalsquare before taking his kick, he should then be compelled to kick the ball to the 50m defensive line.
If he then goes short to a teammate, it would be deemed play-on by the umpire.
But if the kicker chooses to kick it from inside the goalsquare, he can pass it short to a teammate where it would be called a mark.
10. BE RUTHLESS ON SCRAGGING AND HOLDING THE BALL
Give some power back to the umpires.
Let’s follow the rugby league rule where you can’t touch players with force unless they have the ball.
We don’t want to see our star players getting scragged.
If the umpires are ruthless, the scragging will stop.
The same should happen with holding the ball decisions.
If a player doesn’t hit the ball out when he goes ground — let’s say after three or four seconds — pay holding the ball against him.
That will stop a third, fourth and fifth man coming in to form a maul.
11. PROTECT THE HEAD
The sling tackle must be stopped. By and large, it has been, if you leave aside the ridiculous decision to let Shaun Burgoyne off his charge this year.
Sooner or later, someone is going to be seriously injured, or potentially even die from such an incident.
We admire players for their courage in doing it, but we have to protect them from themselves.
It must be a worry for AFL legal counsel Andrew Dillon and for the AFL.
I don’t know how we can change this, but the onus is on the AFL to do it before somebody gets seriously hurt.
12. DON’T HAVE COACHES ON RULE CHANGE PANELS
Coaches are control freaks. I know, because I used to be one.
So the most important thing in any assessment of possible rule changes is to ensure we don’t have current day coaches on rules panels.
I’ve got no problem with past coaches on panels, but it makes no sense to have the current ones controlling the narrative.
Their job is to try and win games, not worry about the image of the game itself.
They have been a part of the problem, so they don’t deserve to be part of the solution.
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