Have the rule changes gone too far?

[Maxabillions]

Has the AFL fully jumped the shark and finally created AFL X for real?

A lot of significant rule changes and footy is looking very different so far.

Throw ups only.

Ruck jumping rule.

Last kick boundary rule.

Stricter stand rule.

Five man bench.

It’s a lot to change in one off season.

Too much?

 

[MF]

Games looking better than ever. Well done AFL

 

[BigVic]

It's unwatchable. NHL is fun and exciting to watch

 

[Rotayjay]

Too early to say much, but I can't say it's any worse than some of the crap football we've seen in recent years.

 

[Black Saab]

The 50m rule for not standing is ridiculous especially if two players are caught in the vicinity and the umpire yells stand neither player knows who the ump is talking too. Collingwood copped a 50m penalty for this very situation against the Crows.

 

[RonnieRaven]

Doesn’t matter what the rules are they still go by the colour of your guernsey

 

[juppy]

Yeah, I think so, but can see others will disagree.

I like the AFL because it is tactical. You may not have the best list, but on your day, with the right role players, you can shut down any team. From what I have watched, if you lack outside run and decent tall fwds then you are going to struggle.

I am not sure if it is just early season and this will be the norm, but there were whole games where it was just centre clearance > kick > mark > goal or turnover > kick > mark > kick > mark > goal. I find that utterly boring. For example, the scores were close in Bri v Dogs, but tonight's Pies v Crows was the far superior game imo. End to end goal fests are boring. There is no tension, no arm wrestle.

I can see what the AFL is going for, more goals = more excitement, and that will probably appeal to the shortening attention spans, but it is not for me. I am hoping it will be a couple of weeks, and coaches will find a way to slow things down, stop teams getting on these runs. Simple field wide man on man defence might be the answer.

The best analogy I can come up with is they have t20'd the AFL. 6's and goals are exciting, so lets give them more.

 

[Cmarsh]

I do like the new last disposal over the boundary between the arcs turnover rule. Means more time in play and less time waiting for the boundary ump to throw it in.

I'm also not missing the recalls at the centre for errant bounces. All throw ups at the centre is a winner for mine.

No longer requiring bounces is probably going to attract more people to being umpires as that was a hard skill to master.

 

[Le RickyBobby]

I've heard in recent days sides are scoring over 100pts more regularly. Since when is that a marker of good football?

The games turned into basketball, uncontested turn over game. Some probably like that, I'm definitely not a fan of it, I'd rather a more contested game.

 

[voorhees]

steven hocking and his stand rule.
both are crap
and both need to go

 

[powerrrrrrrrrrrr]

Don’t mind the last touch rule except I would prefer it’s slightly modified that an accidental toe poke from a smother or the likes isn’t included, that’s frustrating and purely accidental.

Stand rule is still crap especially when multiple players don’t know who is meant to be on the mark but guess some of that is also game awareness from the players to sort out.

Prefer watching some free flowing play and open games compared to rolling contests with every player following the ball we’ve had for years. Game is more open and forwards having greater impact which is good for the game I think.

Overall, I’d say it’s an improvement of the past few years anyway.

 

[Scorpus]

The ruck rule has allowed us to get rid of Reilly O'Brien

43

Reilly O'brien

Age

30

Ht

201cm

Wt

105kg

Pos.

Ruck

Career

Season

Last 5

D

14.4

4star

K

5.9

2star

HB

8.5

5star

CL

1.6

4star

HO

23.8

5star

D

14.4

3star

K

5.9

2star

HB

8.5

4star

CL

1.6

4star

HO

23.8

5star

D

12.6

4star

K

4.8

2star

HB

7.8

5star

CL

1.0

3star

HO

24.8

5star

so I see it as a massive win

 

[RUNVS]

Not sure to be honest. I don't like the superclipping but there can be no doubt having 50% battery has certainly increased the amount of overtakes in the average AFL game.

 

[Former Decathlete]

The 50m rule for not standing is ridiculous especially if two players are caught in the vicinity and the umpire yells stand neither player knows who the ump is talking too. Collingwood copped a 50m penalty for this very situation against the Crows.

Ok Kingy.
Someone has to stand. If there is two players then the players can communicate. It's not that hard.
The players deliberately not manning the mark is effectively cheating and undermines the integrity of the game. That's why it's called a "mark" and not a "catch". Someone has to man the "mark". That's the game.
The 50 was justified. Collingwood tried to cheat and got penalised. Good umpiring..good rule.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

Last touch an amazing rule love it. Should have been in a few years ago.

Ball ups for centre bounces I’m here or there but it hasn’t impacted play much anyway. It’s a ball up shatter a wayward bounce anyway under the old rules.

Being stricter on the stand rule is about time teams were getting away with it

 

[Yoda_]

what's infuriating is that rules are made up to stifle the interpretation of a previous rule.

Clubs will always figure out a way to manipulate a rule in there favour. Some clubs do it better than others

 

[YeoGabbaGabba]

Like the last disposal out of bounds, rare I like a change they’ve made lately.

Still hate the stand on the mark, completely stupid rule that’s picked and chosen when to be applied.

 

[Shack18]

Game so far this year is too uncontested and I find boring, nrl way better to watch on tv (not at ground)
Go Roos

 

[GoEaglesGoSGIO]

Shocking changes because it just puts a intense focus on fitness.... which means the bottom teams are just going to be worse than ever. It makes it impossible now for the younger players to make a real impact on the game and has just led us to a garden path when we will have 5 years of the same top 10 players in the game as those who are new wont have the chance to develop properly.

As the season goes on we are just going to see teams winning by 10+ goals week in week out to the point when id suggest that out of 9 games, 5 of them will have 60+ point margins in any given week. It will also lean into the problem they want to avoid in concussions as these rules will somewhat create more than ever as it becomes more of a kick mark game

I think the AFL should have went the other way. A focus on more congestion to slow the game down to bring more of a evenness to the contests as well as create a game which promotes well footballing talent like breaking tackles, blocking, and contested marking as opposed to the running game that we have today which just spits in the face of what the game used to be

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

I understand why others feel the other way, but I do prefer the bounce. The uncertainty adds something to ruck craft that isn't there with the throw up as well as it being an iconic and unusual part of the game. Really, with so many umpires out there, they don't all need to be able to bounce it. One or two out of the four should be able to without comprimising decision making.

Last disposal, its an improvement over the judgment call of either deliberate or insufficient intent. Why only outside the arcs though? Other than shots at goal, there is no real need to make the rules different.

The stand rule just plain sucks, tightening it even further just makes it worse. Scrap it.

 

[10571z]

The stand rule is an embarrassment.

Last night pies had multiple 50s against them for god knows what.

It’s way worse look for the game that people working the mark.

Not to mention 50m is far too far

 

[Black Saab]

Ok Kingy.
Someone has to stand. If there is two players then the players can communicate. It's not that hard.
The players deliberately not manning the mark is effectively cheating and undermines the integrity of the game. That's why it's called a "mark" and not a "catch". Someone has to man the "mark". That's the game.
The 50 was justified. Collingwood tried to cheat and got penalised. Good umpiring..good rule.

Yeah, the players can communicate. By the time they've worked it our amongst themselves the umpire has penalised them. It's such a stupid rule. At least they can back it off from 50m to 25m. It's harsh overkill for the type of breach it is.

 

[Maxabillions]

It definitely seems like it’s widening the gap between the bad and the good teams.

I hope the AFL will actually do a bit more on equalisation when it becomes obvious how unequal the comp is.

 

[Maxabillions]

Yeah, I think so, but can see others will disagree.

I like the AFL because it is tactical. You may not have the best list, but on your day, with the right role players, you can shut down any team. From what I have watched, if you lack outside run and decent tall fwds then you are going to struggle.

I am not sure if it is just early season and this will be the norm, but there were whole games where it was just centre clearance > kick > mark > goal or turnover > kick > mark > kick > mark > goal. I find that utterly boring. For example, the scores were close in Bri v Dogs, but tonight's Pies v Crows was the far superior game imo. End to end goal fests are boring. There is no tension, no arm wrestle.

I can see what the AFL is going for, more goals = more excitement, and that will probably appeal to the shortening attention spans, but it is not for me. I am hoping it will be a couple of weeks, and coaches will find a way to slow things down, stop teams getting on these runs. Simple field wide man on man defence might be the answer.

The best analogy I can come up with is they have t20'd the AFL. 6's and goals are exciting, so let’s give them more.

More goals also = more ad breaks

 

[beerbandit]

Ok Kingy.
Someone has to stand. If there is two players then the players can communicate. It's not that hard.
The players deliberately not manning the mark is effectively cheating and undermines the integrity of the game. That's why it's called a "mark" and not a "catch". Someone has to man the "mark". That's the game.
The 50 was justified. Collingwood tried to cheat and got penalised. Good umpiring..good rule.

FMD.. get a grip man