Melbourne coach Paul Roos and Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley attack prospect of AFL introducing on-field zones

NATHAN Buckley says it could work for seven-year-olds but the prospect of on-field zones in AFL has been dismissed by the Magpies coach and Melbourne counterpart Paul Roos. HAVE YOUR SAY

Collingwood training at Olympic Park. Coach Nathan Buckley plays the role of defender during a drill . Pic: Michael Klein

MELBOURNE coach Paul Roos has launched a stinging satirical attack on the prospect of the AFL introducing on-field zones.

Laws of the Game committee member John Worsfold floated the idea on Monday night as one way of combating congestion on the field.

Worsfold told the Seven Network the league could look at trialling a rule in pre-season that keeps two or three players from both sides in each half of the ground.

“If you want to play a different game, call it something else and we’ll play a different game,” Roos said.

“Or we can have two games — we can have Australian Rules footy and another game called zoneball.

“It’s a great idea.”

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Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley also dismissed the concept.

“I’m just getting around my son playing under-8s and having to wear wristbands to stay in the forwards, mids or backs, so that works well for kids,” he said.

“I haven’t really spent much time on it, but it works well for under-8s.”

Buckley said Worsfold was just “spit-balling ideas” and the plan was unlikely to ever see the light of day.

“I’ve been really consistent, there’s too much focus on poor games of football and there’s poor games football through every era and we’re too quick to jump on a game when we see a bad game.”

Coach Nathan Buckley plays the role of defender during a drill at Collingwood training today. Picture: Michael Klein

Roos, who matched wits with Worsfold in classic 2005 and 2006 grand finals between Sydney and West Coast, opined the game had never been in better health and that coaches had a knack of fixing whatever ailed it.

“We were talking about the flood years ago, then that went away,” he said.

“We worried about the zones, then they went away.

“The game at the moment is as close to 18 one-on-one contests as you can possibly have and we’ve still got people complaining.”

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Roos suggested the introduction of two new clubs, and the glut of expansion picks heading to GWS and Gold Coast, meant “the talent level is different” now.

“But the game itself has never been better,” he added.

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Roos accused the league of being far too reactive in the way they picked at the game’s fabric.

“The problem is we put rules in. Now we say the rules we put in haven’t worked, so we’ll put some new rules in,” he said.

“We’ll do that and put some rules in to fix the rules that were supposed to fix the rules.

“Then we’ll put some rules in to fix the rules that were going to fix the rules that were going to fix the rules.

“We’ll keep doing that, that sounds like a great idea.”

Roos’ freewheeling series of sarcastic zingers came to an end when asked at Tuesday’s press conference what he would do if in control of the game.

“I wouldn’t have changed them (rules),” he said.

“I’m just a coach. We’re seen as ruining the game so we’ve got to keep our mouths shut.”

Originally published as Melbourne coach Paul Roos and Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley attack prospect of AFL introducing on-field zones