Rules Centre Bounce ditched; no more Subs: AFL announce rule changes for 2026

[Tall poppy Syndrome]

Which means more congestion. Every ball up exactly the same.

As a tangent, one of my concerns with Laura Kane is that it seemed to me that she didn't really know or appreciate football history. In general, I don't think the AFL put much thought into why some of the traditions of the game exist.

You'll never see this again, either (1980).


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What a superb bounce!

 

[JackFlash]

The Umpires can't bounce the ball on near perfect playing surfaces in 2025? What madness is this? One of the most unique aspects of Australian Rules football is the the fact they play with an oval ball and nobody knows where it will bounce at any given time, for over 100 years the Umpires have bounced it, but all of a sudden they can't do it anymore with four of them on the ground! Another great tradition of the game goes out the window!

 

[Hamingja]

Some 15 years ago, players got injured in games and coaches complained of the disadvantage of having one less rotation available.

Sub rule first came in, reducing the intechange to 3, with one sub.

Everybody hated it. The AFL removed it and went back to 4 interchange players.

Players got injured in games and coaches complained of the disadvantage of having one less rotation available.

Sub rule came back, this time with 4 and 1. Apparently everybody had forgotten how much they hated the sub rule.

Everybody remembers how much they hate the sub rule. The AFL removes it and now has 5 interchange players.

How long until coaches start complaining that in-game injuries put them at a disadvantage and something needs to be done?

Round 0 for the complaints to start as soon as someone goes off injured / concussed and they are a rotation down for the rest of the game. Nothing surer.

There are issues with the sub rule but it did at least provide a fairer playing field if you copped injuries in game.

Let's face it the betting companies would have asked them to remove the sub because it would have caused them so many issues with punters over their golden goose, same game multis.

 

[delta_magpie]

can see the AFL doesnt take concussion seriously with this sub removal.
Now no players are going to want to get a HIA done unless they are knocked out cold. They dont want to run the risk of being a player down on the bench.
Who cares if these guys earning 800k a year have to choose a sub before a match... BOOHOO senior coaches.. its ur JOB.
We will have this rule for a year.. and 2027 we will do 5 on bench and a concussion only sub. (this sub cant be a first game player to the AFL)
They are professional organizations...if they can bring 3 emergencies to every game they can bloody handle a concussion sub not getting game time.

 

[Rotayjay]

I'll miss the drama and tradition of the centre bounce. There was something about the ball slamming into the ground and rising high into the air with the crowd roaring, especially at the start of a big game or a final.

However, if that niche skill is keeping better decision-makers out of umpiring in favour of better ball-bouncers, scrapping it is for the greater good.

The skill will die out very quickly now that no one will need to use it. It will be seen as a quaint part of history.

 

[Kapital city TIGER]

1980s rules pls. Just was better.
Fk off all the changes since then.
Keep the bounce, or, if u dont like it, praps some sort of machine launching the ball outta the middle of the ground
Lose the sub, buuuut, 22 on bench.
I hate all the player management sprinting to and fro the bench every stoppage.
Praps cap subs at 4/quarter.
:|
Come at me; I am immune to your whiney arguments for inferiority. Also to logic and hypocrisy.

 

[Bostonian]

Why can't they still bounce the ball at the start of each quarter?

No wonder the game is starting to feel plastic as ****.

 

[Bostonian]

The first bounce of the ball in a grand final is one of the best moments in the game.

No we get some garbage looking moment of someone just throwing it up.

 

[Cam Payne]

Terrible decision. Makes me want to throw up.

 

[joe444]

The first bounce of the ball in a grand final is one of the best moments in the game.

No we get some garbage looking moment of someone just throwing it up.

Don't worry. They place this weird music over the PA that has a kind of "zooooom" noise even after the siren has gone.

We really are behind the times. Should be dance music played the whole way through the game.

 

[Linda Lovelace]

Why can't they still bounce the ball at the start of each quarter?

No wonder the game is starting to feel plastic as ****.

Because it's completely illogical for many reasons and always has been?

 

[kickazz]

I love it too. It’s a unique tradition. Part of why I love it is that it doesn’t quite make sense, there’s a certain randomness to it, and sport is always better for that.

As kids kicking the footy we always used to try and bounce it like an umpire, usually with comic results. We’ve seen this coming for a long time and my rational self doesn’t object, if it’s genuinely a barrier to umpires coming through then sure ditching it makes sense.

But it’s a sad day. Even that its being packaged up with the sub rule, which is really just a technical thing, in a thread. Yes I know why it’s a rule change. But the bounce is character of the game stuff, foreigners or first time viewers of the game have always been intrigued by it.

What I've always liked about the bounce is that it brings a certain skillset into the game.

Just like playing cards - you get good hands that you need to learn to exploit, and you get bad hands that you need to learn to mitigate. Those are skills that make a good card player.

Same with the bounce - a good ruck (and midfield combo) can learn to exploit/mitigate the good/bad bounces. That skill makes them better, and it adds a dimension to the game.


The drawback is that in a given game it can of course be unfair who gets the most good bounces, and some bounces are potentially way too advantageous to be tolerable.

 

[Bostonian]

Because it's completely illogical for many reasons and always has been?

Yeah let's break down the whole game then.

Why bother handballing when you can throw it faster? It's illogical to have to worry about making a fist for a hand pass.

 

[captain blood 17]

And by the end of 2026 there will be a call to have 5 on the bench plus a sub.

With 16 minute quarters, timeouts, cheerleaders and music between goals to become a feature. What a time to be alive.

 

[Vindicater]

Would rather they keep the bounce and get rid of the restart. The beauty of our game is it's chaos, this makes it more sterile.

 

[Sector 7G]

What a superb bounce!

Would have been outside the 5m circle and have to be recalled. Having the longer run up gave more margin for error on the bounces without disadvantaging one ruckman for a slightly dodgy bounce

 

[Linda Lovelace]

Throwing the ball up preceded the bounce.

So this 'tradition' you libtard cucks are whining about being abolished was actually introduced by a bunch of 1880s pink-haired commies who allowed their wokeist agenda to run amok all over the traditional values of the game.

It's a shame we didn't have Bigfooty then to demand 'STOP MESSING WITH THE GAME!'

It is time to Make Australian Rules Great Again.

 

[HairyO]

With 16 minute quarters, timeouts, cheerleaders and music between goals to become a feature. What a time to be alive.

With the first nine months of the AFL postseason out of the way, the playoff picture is starting to emerge.

So, with last night's victory over Brisbane, next week the Melbourne Demons must beat Fremantle in order to advance to Sydney. That's in an effort to reduce their magic number to three.

Right, and then the Demons can advance to the National Eastern Division North to play Hawthorn.

So, if the Demons beat Hawthorn and Carlton beats Adelaide in the Southwestern Division East Northern, then Melbourne goes to the Dillon Cup, unless Brisbane can upset Collingwood and Gold Coast ties Collingwood, then Carlton would play Hawthorn and GWS in a blind choice round robin. And if no clear winner emerges from all of this, a two-man sack race will be held on consecutive Sundays until a champion can be crowned.

 

[Dee Train]

Whilst I don’t really care too much about the bounce, it would be nice to keep at the start of each quarter. The bs about why it has been removed though? My God spare me - ‘umpire health and safety…expanding and diversifying elite umpire pathways’. Umpires used to bounce it a million times a game and had no WHS issues. Expanding diversity is woke speak for half the ******s can’t physically do it properly.

 

[Dee Train]

Yeah let's break down the whole game then.

Why bother handballing when you can throw it faster? It's illogical to have to worry about making a fist for a hand pass.

100% this.

 

[joe444]

Because it's completely illogical for many reasons and always has been?

It is now, but had real logic to it until we started forgetting why it was there in the first place.

 

[Xtreme]

We really are behind the times. Should be dance music played the whole way through the game.

Benny Hill theme

 

[joe444]

Yeah let's break down the whole game then.

Why bother handballing when you can throw it faster? It's illogical to have to worry about making a fist for a hand pass.

And scoring behinds makes no sense. Just have goals and stop allocating points. It's hard these days to do maths, so we can just have game scores like 10 - 7.

Much better for overseas viewers and rugby fans, which are vital for the growth of the game.

And the growth of the game is vital.

 

[joe444]

With the first nine months of the AFL postseason out of the way, the playoff picture is starting to emerge.

So, with last night's victory over Brisbane, next week the Melbourne Demons must beat Fremantle in order to advance to Sydney. That's in an effort to reduce their magic number to three.

Right, and then the Demons can advance to the National Eastern Division North to play Hawthorn.

So, if the Demons beat Hawthorn and Carlton beats Adelaide in the Southwestern Division East Northern, then Melbourne goes to the Dillon Cup, unless Brisbane can upset Collingwood and Gold Coast ties Collingwood, then Carlton would play Hawthorn and GWS in a blind choice round robin. And if no clear winner emerges from all of this, a two-man sack race will be held on consecutive Sundays until a champion can be crowned.

Just wait for the grudge match between the LGBTQ Warriors v Multifaith Fundamentalists.

Rumours of internal tensions in both sides, too.

Be there early to catch the Acknowledgement of Country Road singalong.

 

[Dee Train]

And scoring behinds makes no sense. Just have goals and stop allocating points. It's hard these days to do maths, so we can just have game scores like 10 - 7.

Much better for overseas viewers and rugby fans, which are vital for the growth of the game.

And the growth of the game is vital.

Ball needs to be round