cleomenes
Cancelled
- Nov 18, 2010
- 1,483
- 2,052
- AFL Club
- Collingwood
The game is now a congested unsightly mess, looking similar to what it did on a wet, windy day in the sixties. Unless the AFL deals with this, the prospects for the game are poor.
The culprits are the coaches. They want to control play, and numbers around the ball is their answer.
The tool that lets them do this is the interchange. Players are able to run very fast to clog up play, and get a rest before they have to do it again.
If the coaches can't be made to give up repeated interchanges as a tactical tool rather than the injury management tool it was introduced as, then the AFL will have to change rules to spread the players out.
To minimize the lines on the field, but maximize their effect, I suggest that the following is considered.
1. Extend the end lines of the centre square to the boundary.
2. Require each team to have a fixed number of players within the section of the field with the goals whenever there is a bounce or boundary throw in. 6 each would be good. Fewer might work.
3. Boundary umpires act as line judges for this.
4. If a team transgresses (not enough players in its end zone, be they attackers or defenders), then the bounce or throw in is moved to the square extension that favours their opposition. No free kicks involved, just loss of territory.
5. Outside of stoppages, players may be wherever they like.
6. No particular players have to be in the end zones, only a minimum number.
The future of the game is under threat from within. The solution above may not be the answer, but something drastic is required or defensive tactics will strangle the game as a spectacle. Fewer players is probably not the solution, as they will still all be clustered wherever the ball is.
Copyright Cleomenes
The culprits are the coaches. They want to control play, and numbers around the ball is their answer.
The tool that lets them do this is the interchange. Players are able to run very fast to clog up play, and get a rest before they have to do it again.
If the coaches can't be made to give up repeated interchanges as a tactical tool rather than the injury management tool it was introduced as, then the AFL will have to change rules to spread the players out.
To minimize the lines on the field, but maximize their effect, I suggest that the following is considered.
1. Extend the end lines of the centre square to the boundary.
2. Require each team to have a fixed number of players within the section of the field with the goals whenever there is a bounce or boundary throw in. 6 each would be good. Fewer might work.
3. Boundary umpires act as line judges for this.
4. If a team transgresses (not enough players in its end zone, be they attackers or defenders), then the bounce or throw in is moved to the square extension that favours their opposition. No free kicks involved, just loss of territory.
5. Outside of stoppages, players may be wherever they like.
6. No particular players have to be in the end zones, only a minimum number.
The future of the game is under threat from within. The solution above may not be the answer, but something drastic is required or defensive tactics will strangle the game as a spectacle. Fewer players is probably not the solution, as they will still all be clustered wherever the ball is.
Copyright Cleomenes