Dealing with congestion

[FlowersByIrene]

Why dont you sepparate the ruckman 5m's apart at stoppages and get them to have a proper ruck run up. That will promote tapping the ball further away which will reduce congestion - plus it would look cool

 

[Pessimistic]

Last one to touch the ball losing a free kick will introduce even more umpire error

Just saw a freo palyer accidentally kick through an opponents leg and the ball went into touch. Clear as daya purple sock not a white one.

Freoplayer gets awarded the free kick despit the opponents appealong for oof.

Kick into the goalsquare, goal, game over

 

[yebiga]

Last one to touch the ball losing a free kick will introduce even more umpire error

Just saw a freo palyer accidentally kick through an opponents leg and the ball went into touch. Clear as daya purple sock not a white one.

Freoplayer gets awarded the free kick despit the opponents appealong for oof.

Kick into the goalsquare, goal, game over

It's unnecessary to got that far
Extending it to untouched kicks - like kicking out from a behind is all that is required
The boundary throw in is an icon of the game - we just don't need so much of it

 

[yebiga]

Reduce the interchanges to 25.

Why don't the coaches support this? Because a move like this takes control away from the coaches and back to the players and the team leaders on the ground. And coaches don't like that. When the coach controls the game as much as they do today, the play EVENTUALLY becomes a quagmire of each coach trying to lock down the other coach's plays. Coaches become valuable and get paid more. And they have more control.

Taking away 120 changeovers from a coach is like taking a dummy of a baby. They will scream about it.

I prefer a principled approach where we don't allow interchange during play and limit it to after a goal
If there are no goals at the Half wAy point of the quarter than either of the captains asks the umpire during the next stoppAge of play to permit a interchange - the stoppage must be between the arcs too

Injured players taken off during play are not permitted to renter for 20 minutes of play time

 

[rodney hoo]

Why dont you sepparate the ruckman 5m's apart at stoppages and get them to have a proper ruck run up. That will promote tapping the ball further away which will reduce congestion - plus it would look cool

And no third man up, could work. Try in preseason games, maybe 3m apart.

 

[yebiga]

And no third man up, could work. Try in preseason games, maybe 3m apart.

Third man up is now routinely becoming six men up

 

[rodney hoo]

Third man up is now routinely becoming six men up

IMO it's bull s**t, get the big guys go at it.

 

[The Farmer]

You know the prior opportunity first reared its head to punish a player who was stripped of the ball after having had a chance to dispose of it
Slowly It's evolved to protect players who hold on to the ball in a tackle

And so they do

The current thinking is that a player should have the right to take possession regardless of the circumstances

The umpire is asked to repeatedly make the subjective decision of whether a player caught in possession has had adequate time and whether they are genuinely attempting to dispose of the ball

The result is that our game has increased repeated stoppages which often appear like rugby union scrimmages

It is high time we trial no prior opportunity in the preseason nab cup

Personally I suspect a whole host of problems will disappear, opening up the game - increasing scoring and unpredictability

So you don't want to see players actually attacking the football? Why would anyone pick it up when you can just seagull, lay a tackle and win a free kick for it?

 

[yebiga]

So you don't want to see players actually attacking the football? Why would anyone pick it up when you can just seagull, lay a tackle and win a free kick for it?

They will attack the football with the ball in outstretched hands
They will either kick it handball it or the ball will spill
Because of the later possibility the tackle itself will occur less and not be about taking a player to the ground as the tackler will be aware of the spilled ball
It is only now with the protection of the prior that players take possession hoping for a ball up

 

[yebiga]

Evans was impressive on the couch last night
Showed a real feel for the game

 

[XXRL]

Evans was impressive on the couch last night
Showed a real feel for the game

He was good.

I’m pleased he’s not going to start reactively changing the rules because of perceived problems perpetuated by a bunch of nostalgic ex-footballers from the 90’s who get paid to dream up stuff to talk about every week.

Just because you say “the game’s in crisis” a lot, doesn’t mean it actually is – leave the rules alone!

 

[Boxhead_31]

Listening to Evans On The Couch on Monday night and he is looking like putting his eggs in the coaches to stop the congestion, but given that prior to the start of this year the coaches promised open free flowing games is Evans trust misplaced?

North Melbourne coach Brad Scott spoke of a “swing” towards “good attacking footy”. Richmond coach Damien Hardwick said sides were practising “a lot more offence and speed of offence”. Three-time premiership coach Alastair Clarkson said clubs were working on more offensive strategies.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/a...e-yet-to-deliver/story-fnp04d70-1227420294407

 

[Schauermann]

The game is now a congested unsightly mess

Sounds like a game I want to see.

looking similar to what it did on a wet, windy day in the sixties.

Only the mud component is missing atm. Reduce ground drainage would help.

 

[cougar000]

I think having less rotations will cause more stoppages as the players will be completely stuffed! How about 16 players on the ground 6 on the bench and no cap on rotations players would be more refreshed and probably take the game on more.

 

[cleomenes]

I think having less rotations will cause more stoppages as the players will be completely stuffed! How about 16 players on the ground 6 on the bench and no cap on rotations players would be more refreshed and probably take the game on more.

That's the point of removing interchange. If players cannot physically run the length of the ground repeatedly, then tactics will have to change to accommodate some of them remaining at either end of the ground most of the time. ie, a return to forwards, backs and onballers. As things are at the moment, this would disadvantage Collingwood, as we play one of those awful defensive games, but we would have to improve with everyone else.
Reducing the numbers would have 16 clustered around the ball rather than 18, which I don't see as a huge gain. A few more gaps for kick ins perhaps.
No interchange and strict holding the ball does not introduce radical change, rather it return the game towards its original setup.

 

[Suns of Anarchy]

One rule change will fix up a few things. There has to be 1 forward in each forward 50 at all times. Coaches won't want gun forwards deep one out in an open forward line and will panic. They'll send an extra back. That will drag another forward back and we'll have less upfield congestion already. That also eliminates a player screaming forward, looking up and stopping dead in his tracks as there is no one in his forward line. Also will help bring the big full forward back into the game. Coaches won't want Hawkins, Roughead, Franklin, Riewoldt, Kennedy one out in a lot of space. Trial it in the NAB. The rest, just leave it alone.

 

[Topkent]

Maybe something kind of like zones but not so enforced
So say your nominated FF for the match has to be inside the 50 for a score to count.. so if he is outside the 50 when the ball crosses the line its no score

 

[IsThisFootball]

Thanks for starting this thread Cleo, I agree unless something is done about congestion our great game will be unwatchable.
I can't see why some sort of zoning wouldn't work. It could be as simple as Suns of Anarchy suggests or more. We already have a type of zone at the center square bounce down.
The lack of anyone to kick to up forward is killing the big kick, the big mark and that forward run that makes aussie rules such a great game. What percentage of kicks now are backwards or across the ground?
Because of congestion it's becoming a handball game. A quick look at the average stats from round 5 2004, average kicks 185 average handball 108. Round 5 2015, average kicks 203, average handball 159 and a lot of those kicks barely make the 15 mt minimum.
The changes to the dropping and holding the ball rules that the afl has brought in are for what?? To speed up the game??
Unless we can reduce numbers around the ball, it will become something akin to rugby, if it isn't already.

 

[Wardong]

The lack of anyone to kick to up forward is killing the big kick, the big mark and that forward run that makes aussie rules such a great game. What percentage of kicks now are backwards or across the ground?
Because of congestion it's becoming a handball game.
Unless we can reduce numbers around the ball, it will become something akin to rugby, if it isn't already.

Maybe a backward kick could be deemed play on, would ease congestion, stop running down the clock (time wasting) and promote and encourage the positive, playmaking attributes of our game.
If the congestion issue is not addressed, our game will suffer further and become nothing more than a poor mans version of rugby.
The rot has to stop!

 

[yebiga]

Prior opportunity is a chook raffle
There are a million reasons why this is so wrong
Please get rid of it
There is nothing that will force the ball out of congestion more quickly and consistently
You will suddenly find no one is virtually ever caught in possession

Dramatically reducing the interchange will also impact but only later in quarters and games
No idea why supporters aren't universally in favor of both

Let's do this before we consider radical changes along the lines of netball zones, shot clocks...

Personally I would restrict interchange to quarter time breaks


These changes would tilt the game towards talent and endurance away from burst players & pure athletes

 

[Wardong]

Prior opportunity is a chook raffle
There are a million reasons why this is so wrong
Please get rid of it
There is nothing that will force the ball out of congestion more quickly and consistently
You will suddenly find no one is virtually ever caught in possession

Totally agree and has the added advantage of having one less rule for the umpires to interpret.

 

[IsThisFootball]

Totally agree and has the added advantage of having one less rule for the umpires to interpret.

The afl has to move away from the chook raffle and have clear, obvious rules that the umpires implement not interpret. Umpires win or lose games by their interpretation, especially in front of goal.
It would be interesting to see a team come out now and keep 2 or 3 forwards in the forward half (shock horror) and instruct the defenders/mid fielder to bomb it up to them when ever possible.

 

[Yamumluvsbigcox]

Just reduce the interchange to 60 per game per team with no sub just 4 on the bench . Midfielders are only required to have a 8-10 min burst ATM and can get to many more contests . Once they are blowing they come off for a break . If they are forced to stay out on the ground for 12-15 or half a quarter you will see players after a fast break not being able to run back hard in defence or run hard forward . Mids will be forced to rest forward reducing numbers around the ball and forwards won't be able to continue to take long repeated leads up the ground .
This by itself will spread players out across the ground

 

[cleomenes]

Ideally, I would like to see us return to the days when the rovers rested in the forward pocket, and not on the bench at all. Likewise the ruckmen. Interchange for injuries only would achieve this. Requiring a handball as soon as a tackle sticks and giving a free kick if a proper handball is not delivered would clear a lot of congestion. These are much simpler solutions than zones, but if the AFL won't undertake the simple solutions, it will have to go with the complex ones. The coaches cannot be permitted to destroy the game with their determination to control play.

 

[yebiga]

Wasnt the interchange initially justified to remove the imbalance caused by injury
No one imagined it would become a revolving door

Limit interchange to quarter breaks
Injured players needing to come off during a quarter are ineligible to play the next quarter.

That would be 12 interchanges a piece
With probably some feigning injury /resting shenanigans in the last quarter increasing it to 15 each side

The selected 18 each quarter becomes crucial
Non injury changes during the quarter would come with the penalty of only 3 available changes in the following quarter

No more blind siding play with fresh players on the I/c wing
The spectators would become more involved in the player changes during the game

It's a beautiful simplification
Still allowing for surprise moves
In fact each change would be far more significant and known by all

Because of its simplicity it is likely to become consistent across all leagues. It is essentially what happens in under age football anyway - it is just codifying the obvious

Love it