Rules The new man on the mark rule is utterly ridiculous.

[YeOldTiger]

The transition to netball/basketball is nearly complete. Ushered in by a bunch of sheep prepared to choke down on any rule change as long as the sponsors are kept happy. One particular sheep even seems comfortable with rule changes "not designed to keep the footy tragic happy". So you blow off your core market in a vain attempt to attract kids more interested in video than real, actual life. Some of these sheep won't be happy until all our kids weigh 150kgs before they're out of high school.

Well I have news for the world's most stupid animals, those that can't make decisions for themselves but simply eat what they're fed, these new consumers have no money. Things are tight. Millennials can't afford a house and memberships are bought by mum and dad, not buy snot nosed little johnny who's been brought up on a diet of fast food and US pretend sport.

Without the footy tragic$ the game will wither and die on the vine. But hey, that's ok, there's always fake online sport right ? Entertainment rules until they have a stroke because they need a crane to get out of bed. All before their 30th birthday.

I'm not one of those footy tragics that think the game was better 30 years ago. I love the game now. The professionalism, the athleticism (take note snot nose johnny), the tactics, the pressure, the arm wrestle. The best team wins. The losers live to fight another day unless their sook fans bleat about their team not being about to get the ball back out of their own 50.

Don't worry losers, Steve Hocking has you covered. We'll change the rules so EVERYONE gets a participation award. Lol

There's no need to CONSTANTLY tinker. NINE rule changes last year. Ok one or two related to Covid fair enough but every year there's more. And more. And more until the fabric of the game and then the game itself has changed.

If rule changes aren't at least contested, in the end Australian Rules football, based on simple principles becomes a lawyer's nest of quadruple appendixes and jargon the size of a phone book. On hang on, poor sheep wouldn't know what a phone book was. Without Google sheep can't comprehend. All sheep has is a lack of respect for history, tradition, passion and a lot of contempt for anything that came before the goog.

If I wanted non contested shit I can watch NBA or ten pin bowling. Leave my bloody game alone. If you don't like it, get your excercise for the day by grabbing the remote and switching over to Captain America. By the way, how's that going for you ? Do you want fries with that entertainment garbage ?

To the sheep I have only one thing left to say: Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

 

[Purple Suit]

and I am glad about that as the ball being locked in a 50 metre arc was never good viewing. It getting into the midfield so quickly makes that tactic so much harder now.

But, that tactic lead to teams scoring. Can't lock it in, therefore it comes out till it reaches the other 50m where the defense is strongest and it once again comes out of the arc.

Hmmm, maybe the rules we introduce ever year to increase scoring can actually have the opposite effect? Do they ever wind back a rule? No, so that it a clear sign that ego's are getting in the way and they have far to much power with zero checks and balances that a normal business / government would have.

 

[Purple Suit]

And which year was it again that the crowds and the TV audiences stopped watching?

Last year, so the AFL have made knee jerk reactions this year with no trials even though there are massive extenuating circumstances. They are really showing how bad they are at running an organisation. Junkets for the family more important than the game, trying to make China work due to a business fad rather than research or just common sense and inconsistent rules & punishments for teams, players and staff through out the current admin.

 

[YeOldTiger]

AFL annual rule changes. Brought to you by the brainiac team that showed a glimpse of the future with their love child AFLX. Puke.

SH: Gill, Gill, they'll love it !
Gill: Hmmm Steve are you sure ?
SH: Yes of course, I designed it for the new market.
Gill: But what about the traditional lovers of the game ? The backbone of the sport. The ones who buy memberships and keep the game alive at a grass roots level. The ones who are there rain hail or shine ??
SH: Oh **** those boomer idiots. They're stuck on the past. We get our money from sponsors now. It's not a sport or even a business. It's American style "Entertainment". Haven't you even heard of Jake Paul ?!? He's called out Matty Richardson ! It's so uber !
Gill: Are you sure about this Steve ?
SH: Gill, our transition to AFLX has to be done this way now. By stealth. You saw what happened when we tried to launch it. It was too soon. Now I now the answer is to transition over a few years. That way the idiots err fans wont even realise it's happened. Like a magic trick before their very eyes.
Gill: Hmmmmm
SH: Gill, think of it this way...imagine how happy Ch7 and all the radio partners will be with ALL THOSE GOALS ! AFLX will be just like NBA. You KNOW how much we love the NBA and it IS American don't forget ! Everything American is so entertaining ! I SO love it. It's not like Aussie Rules at all. It's so fun to watch because there's no pressure ! Just scoring scoring scoring.
Gill: ok ok Steve. I cant think, you're giving me a headache. Maybe just a few rule changes then. After all we are the administrators of the game. The game is here to serve us, same with the players, the coaches, the fans, they serve us don't they...you know sometimes I think they think it's the other way around ! Lol.
SH: I know Gill, can you imagine that ! Hahahahahaha. Soooooo I'm thinking we make the man on the mark wear concrete boots from now on. After all, this IS the slow drowning of footy...and that goal square...dont you think it's just a little, well square ? Oh I have so many other ideas, just you wait and see....

(Later at home in his Nike oxygen thief bubble tent SH strokes the cat in his lap and with a maniacal laugh says "you know Kardinia, I might just get away with this after all. As long as there are enough sheep who will swallow whatever we feed them that is. Hmmm now what's on the tv ? Ahhhh NBA, my favourite" !).

 

[greatwhiteshark]

AFL annual rule changes. Brought to you by the brainiac team that showed a glimpse of the future with their love child AFLX. Puke.

SH: Gill, Gill, they'll love it !
Gill: Hmmm Steve are you sure ?
SH: Yes of course, I designed it for the new market.
Gill: But what about the traditional lovers of the game ? The backbone of the sport. The ones who buy memberships and keep the game alive at a grass roots level. The ones who are there rain hail or shine ??
SH: Oh fu** those boomer idiots. They're stuck on the past. We get our money from sponsors now. It's not a sport or even a business. It's American style "Entertainment". Haven't you even heard of Jake Paul ?!? He's called out Matty Richardson ! It's so uber !
Gill: Are you sure about this Steve ?
SH: Gill, our transition to AFLX has to be done this way now. By stealth. You saw what happened when we tried to launch it. It was too soon. Now I now the answer is to transition over a few years. That way the idiots err fans wont even realise it's happened. Like a magic trick before their very eyes.
Gill: Hmmmmm
SH: Gill, think of it this way...imagine how happy Ch7 and all the radio partners will be with ALL THOSE GOALS ! AFLX will be just like NBA. You KNOW how much we love the NBA and it IS American don't forget ! Everything American is so entertaining ! I SO love it. It's not like Aussie Rules at all. It's so fun to watch because there's no pressure ! Just scoring scoring scoring.
Gill: ok ok Steve. I cant think, you're giving me a headache. Maybe just a few rule changes then. After all we are the administrators of the game. The game is here to serve us, same with the players, the coaches, the fans, they serve us don't they...you know sometimes I think they think it's the other way around ! Lol.
SH: I know Gill, can you imagine that ! Hahahahahaha. Soooooo I'm thinking we make the man on the mark wear concrete boots from now on. After all, this IS the slow drowning of footy...and that goal square...dont you think it's just a little, well square ? Oh I have so many other ideas, just you wait and see....

(Later at home in his Nike oxygen thief bubble tent SH strokes the cat in his lap and with a maniacal laugh says "you know Kardinia, I might just get away with this after all. As long as there are enough sheep who will swallow whatever we feed them that is. Hmmm now what's on the tv ? Ahhhh NBA, my favourite" !).

Funny enough to be very close to actually how it plays out.

 

[dont bowl there]

I guess there were some massive east-west fans out there.

 

[Lockyer24]

The rule is a massive winner. Even more so if the umpires police it slightly less harshly. Visionary stuff by Hock

 

[Shane Heard]

You don't understand what 'broken' means in terms of the entertainment industry.

It's not really a sport as such, it's an entertainment product.

There is a huge difference between people liking a game, and maintaining a successful entertainment business.

These changes are of a commercial nature. They're not designed to make footy tragic happy.

They are designed to make the product more commercially viable.

With the vast amount of choice available in terms of what to stare at on your screen, the AFL have to ensure that they are give people a reason to keep their eyes on their product.

Pressure, gang tackling, 5 on 5 contests all over the ground, excessive stoppages etc. are not appealing to the modern consumer.
It may appease the rusted on losers that only cares if their team wins - but that isn't the market that the AFL care about.

Yet here you are day after day on a footy forum talking about footy and saying today you hate the way the game is “ presented” and “ packaged @ for entertainment.

You’re the loser pal

A negative, complaining one at that.

You probably ask for the manager when you don’t get enough fries

 

[Shane Heard]

Popular as ever you ever spent any time in a primary school? Most kids couldn’t give sh*te about the game. The baby boomers are keeping it going the way it is. They live for the game, grew up thinking it was the be all playing footy on a weekend. A lot of kids go play a year or two then don’t ever play again. And then spend a lot of time watching other children play video games on YouTube or interact with them playing live. They ain’t growing up watching 6 games a week or living for their sides game on the weekend. They’ll be your once a month entertainment only a big game crowd and when the boomers start disappearing what are you left with? A bunch of old blokes talking about the good old days.

My son is 21 and back in grade 5 the primary banned kids playing footy matches at lunchtime because they fear injuries and getting sued by parents

I gather it’s still the same now

Meanwhile...7 million fans rocked up to AFL matches in 2019

The game is as popular as ever

 

[ItsAllAboutMe]

Rule is great, and the moment standing on the mark became a tactic to slow down the game this was inevitable.. I just wish it was not implemented for a set shot at goal. Is a little embarrassing watching a forward waltz around a stationary figure to open up the angle and slot a goal..

 

[ItsAllAboutMe]

My son is 21 and back in grade 5 the primary banned kids playing footy matches at lunchtime because they fear injuries and getting sued by parents

I gather it’s still the same now

Meanwhile...7 million fans rocked up to AFL matches in 2019

The game is as popular as ever

My daughter is in grade 3, i could count on 1 hand the amount of times i have seen footies being kicked by the kids at pick up/drop off.. Its all about basketball.

 

[Grrr]

My daughter is in grade 3, i could count on 1 hand the amount of times i have seen footies being kicked by the kids at pick up/drop off.. Its all about basketball.

Hence nobody can drop a torp.... back in my day....
... having said that I do bemoan the long shot at goal that would easily make the distance if they knew how to kick a torpedo. I guess with all the tactical side of footy these days, there's no time to practice....

 

[PetterdHoisted]

My daughter is in grade 3, i could count on 1 hand the amount of times i have seen footies being kicked by the kids at pick up/drop off.. Its all about basketball.

Hockings rule changes will just accelerate the transition. But these idiots won't be in charge forever and we can repeal these rules once they are gone and we get someone in who understands the modern game.

 

[JezzasOnTheAsphalt]

Rule is great, and the moment standing on the mark became a tactic to slow down the game this was inevitable.. I just wish it was not implemented for a set shot at goal. Is a little embarrassing watching a forward waltz around a stationary figure to open up the angle and slot a goal..

I wouldn't be surprised to see another rule at some stage down the track which ensures that the set shot line becomes stricter for the kicker. I hope so anyway, if we are going to ensure absolute perfection with how players can defend then it seems fair to ensure the team with the ball can't cut corners either.

 

[JoondalupJ]

This is utter garbage, one of the worst changes to the game ever made. Has to be scrapped before season proper.

This is the outlook from my point of view, to begin with another change, god help us.

Then we have the coming problems, great ...two good teams roll each other over in the first quarter or so, big scoring, great says Hocking and his vandals, they get this scoring allowance through a bruise-free, event, where the kicker has total advantage over the man on the mark who cannot put him off by body movement , a NORMAL defensive activity, man on mark, can't move, man with ball can kick anywhere, and in good teams it will be someone on their own!!!!!

Now DAMIEN HARDWICK COMMENTS, WE HAD 120 UNCONTESTED MARKS AGAINST I THINK COLLINGWOOD A WEEK AGO, AROUND THAT TIME, HE ALSO SAID THAT IT WAS SOMEWHERE NEAR DOUBLE WHAT IT NORMALLY IS.

THIS IS THE DISASTER AWAITING OUR SPORT!
This is aerial ping pong at long long last the NRL will have some ammunition.
Where players mostly get the ball when on their own, now the stats have been showing some top players getting big possession numbers over the years, and they have, it is the style and the coaching and the quality of the player, and all of those blokes could take a mark under pressure, they were footballers. Imagine their stats now, and you know even Mr Mediocre will get good marking stats, because his team mate has no pressure whatsoever and can put the ball anywhere.

Then the other angle, the crappy teams who can't get hold of it, well Gil and dingbat, you will get your high scores alright, I can see Richmond kicking 40 goals against some hapless lower or out of form team.

I and my sons are members of our team , if this year sees this game get more and more like basketball, and free kick ridden tiggy touchwood tiny offences , then I am nearly ready to pack it in.
Because the win these days, is in lots of cases not deserved because of petty frees brought in, in the past few years, now they add another easy way out for the man with the ball.
In several cases in the near past we get different interpretations from umpires of frees, where the ball holder or the tackler can wind up getting penalised and no one can tell why, because the rules are so miniscule and petty.
NOW WE HAVE THE POOR B*ST*RD on the mark who is now compelled to be a statue. Another avenue to less contact, less pressure more easy possessions!

Thank you for nothing you absolute pea, Hocking, you guys have really done a job, destroying Australian Rules Football, killed it for what it was and what it is meant to be.

On huge salaries probably too politically correct, you do more against reconciliation than you do for making us all equal, by having rounds for races, when we are all Australians! Aren't we???
So you are a woke pack, with big money and who I don't know runs you, but you have f****d this game, it may be fast it may have some spectacle, but the way you castrate it every year is amazing, That is what I think of the whole AFL , if the game is wrecked which I suspect it was already on the way to, but wrecked this year , it can go play undercover on a basketball court for all I care. I'll watch Rugby. And I was born and bred all my life to our indigenous game. I hope I''m wrong but the injustices from stupid new rules handed to some teams over the last few years is awful.
FOOTY IS A CONTEST!!!!!!!!!!!
What are we introducing to rookies now? Well, BRUISE FREE being not that big a risk, plenty of mark stats but easy-going, no one near to be worried about

I wonder what the hell goes on in the brain of Hocking. If everyone jacks up even clubs and players the game could get back to the real people , not these snotty privileged game destroyers, all beginning with greedy bl**dy Demetriou. 20 odd years ago.

 

[JoondalupJ]

And that is the biggest problem with this rule. If the umpire is not on the job the player on the mark is either going to have to stand there helplessly and watch the player run around them like on the second video or move with the player and risk giving away a 50 because the umpire didn't make the call early enough. Who'd want to be an umpire.

Who'd want another rule change?????????????????????

 

[JoondalupJ]

Got confirmation tonight that all country footy in Victoria is adopting this rule. If there was ever a rule not designed for local implementation by country umpires it's this one.

We've never brought in the rushed behind infringement so I don't know why it's necessary to bring in this joke of a rule.

Hocking has to be seen to be doing something, in a nothing job no changes were ever needed, from Demetriou's leadership to McGlachlan's the 1990's into the early 2000's was when the game should never have been touched again.

It's why I use the word HATE, when I think or talk about AFL admin.
And hell, my mobs won 4 flags during this time, so its the game that I am really sad about, an umpire can win a game now, its happened lots and it'll happen again, an umpire can kill momentum with a split second mistake or just calling a bullsh*t penalty.
Black and white rules we need , not grey cheeky sh*t that can actually invite cheating , on all levels, this rule is ripe for a picking, move off your mark after your opponent marks it , out marks you that is, but you already know that?????????
Stretching the bow a bit, wait til it happens and it probably already is?
The game has been corporatised into the septic tank of sports.
Kill the country footy too??????????????????????
I reckon I will not last long this season. The game I knew has died. Somewhat!

 

[footyfan1978]

I gotta laugh at the two extreme's.
It's either the best thing since slice bread or the end of the world as we know it.

 

[Roby]

I want the grand final to be decided by this rule after the siren.

 

[HPKS]

My daughter is in grade 3, i could count on 1 hand the amount of times i have seen footies being kicked by the kids at pick up/drop off.. Its all about basketball.

Like I’ve said young children couldn’t give a stuff about the game but ask them about fortnight or another video game it’s a totally different story. And like you’ve said if it’s a sport it’s basketball. I used to be ignorant to what kids liked until mine started primary school a few years ago and it’s an eye opener how irrelevant footy is to them.

 

[NoobPie]

I want the grand final to be decided by this rule after the siren.

It would make the biggest moron on Bigfooty look like a genius compared to whoever managed to concede a 50m at the death of a GF because they couldn't manage the task of standing

 

[PenfoldsFan]

Do people honestly believe the AFL would want this rule umpired in an overzealous manner in a practice match where copping backlash would achieve nothing?
Just wait until late in the season/finals when the fix is on and it changes a result, then when fans react they can say yes it was a mistake but they got it right for the most part and they're only human etc. etc.

Just another grey area they've developed to exploit when necessary.

 

[Roby]

It would make the biggest moron on Bigfooty look like a genius compared to whoever managed to concede a 50m at the death of a GF because they couldn't manage the task of standing

What if the the player didn't stand and cut off the angle smothered the ball which would've resulted in an almost certain goal, only it for the ball go the the other way and a player slightly moves 1cm on a incorrect free-kick from the centre square resulting in a easy shot for goal and consequently the premiership?

 

[Shane Heard]

I want the grand final to be decided by this rule after the siren.

You can’t play on after the siren having a set shot

You have to run in a dead straight line

I’m sure this rule has been in place for 125 years

If a player is hemmed in on the boundary it has to be a drop punt

Can’t step out and snap

 

[Roby]

You can’t play on after the siren having a set shot

You have to run in a dead straight line

I’m sure this rule has been in place for 125 years

If a player is hemmed in on the boundary it has to be a drop punt

Can’t step out and snap

The first play is in normal game time.