No high frees when player with the ball is responsible for the high contact

Boxhead_31

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So every time a commentator says that a player "draws a free kick" (as if that's a good thing), now it will be play on? Great.
Initiating high contact to yourself, bending at the knees or raising the arm in order to get the free (not just to break a tackle or change direction) is a form of cheating as far as I'm concerned.
Teams like Geelong (and their exports) and West Coast were becoming unwatchable because of the levels of "drawing the free kick" that they had reached.
Hopefully now we can watch the great players playing football instead of trying to get cheap free kicks.

I'd like the AFL to also introduce the "Mr Flappy" rule in honour of Dean Cox. Players demonstratively asking for free kicks all the time should be fined or given free kicks against them. Play the game and leave the umpiring to the umpires and the crowd.
You do know that Walters has just been ruled out of the game don't you?
 

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YippeeYiYeo

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happy to see this. Cant wait to see a player like Mclean, Mathieson drop their knees and initiate the high tackle only to get penalised for holding the ball.
 

Furn2

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Wont stop ducking.

The umps will get it wrong enough to make it worth players doing it.

There needs to be a downside to ducking that effects the scoreboard.
 

Clems Knee

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You do know that Walters has just been ruled out of the game don't you?
If Walters ducks to get beneath a tackle and plays on, he'll be fine. If he ducks to draw a free kick, then he'll be in trouble.
Just the same with Selwood, shrugging a tackle by raising the arm is fine. Getting a free kick because of it is wrong. You can tell when Selwood is in full "drawing a free kick" mode. He normally gets a few in a row. Eg the Geelong second quarter fightback in the MCG Elimination Final against us in 2012.
 

Sttew

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That's the rule change as announced today.

But when is the player with the ball "responsible for the high contact"?

Does it cover the arm raise? The more shruggish arm raise?

Jake Niall has reported:

"This covers situations of ducking, driving the head into the tackler or slipping down on contact."

I assume this is slipping down?

View attachment 321575
Leigh Matthews disagrees with the interpretation. He is on the Rules subcommittee. It will be up to the umpire to decide, but Matthews said on 3Aw yesterday he did not think the rule will affect Joel Selwood
 

Sttew

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Will laugh when oppo fans come to the realisation it won't stop Joel. He shrugs tackles to evade them not for FK purposes.
Have to wonder though, 2/3 new rules are areas we excel at, I wonder which club has sooked to the AFL :rolleyes:
For once I'll happily say it's unlikely to be Hawthorn given the rule changes affect them equally
 

Sprout

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Expected to see plenty of whinging. Damned if they do and damned if they don't.

It's an attempt at stamping it out at least. Letting it continue as is wasn't an option. A blight on the game for too long.
 

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10571z

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If the tackle starts at a legal level and you lift your arms and shrug them bad luck. Cant wait to see Selwood sook up. Im not saying he isnt a good player but honestly he does this so much
 
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If the tackle starts at a legal level and you lift your arms and shrug them bad luck. Cant wait to see Selwood sook up. Im not saying he isnt a good player but honestly he does this so much
He'll still dominate free kick counts which will make this whole exercise so funny. So many on here rejoicing but it will be amusing when the realisation kicks in that it doesn't stop Joel.

More simply players could just learn to tackle lower...
 

mehow2g

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Like all rules it will only work if it's consistent.

A better option to eliminate this is to actually start suspending players for ducking.
 

Clems Knee

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He'll still dominate free kick counts which will make this whole exercise so funny. So many on here rejoicing but it will be amusing when the realisation kicks in that it doesn't stop Joel.

More simply players could just learn to tackle lower...
We will see. If the umpires implement this like the lawmakers intend then his free kick tally will be about the same as the other top players (so he'll miss close to 2 frees on average a game). He will still be a star.
If the umpires try to follow the new rules but slip back into their old habits as the season progresses (as usually happens), Selwood will still be the darling of the men in fluoro.
 

Freshwater

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Honestly the only way I see it being interpreted properly is if the umpire uses player bias.

Guys like Mathieson, McLean and Selwood are automatically guilty until proven innocent, whilst others are given the benefit of the doubt until proven to be serial offenders.

Otherwise it's going to be impossible to adjudicate on the spot whether a player has ducked or raised their arm.
How can they be guilty already? That was under the old system, and they played to the rules and actually got the free kick, so are 'guilty' of nothing. It's from now that matters.
 
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We will see. If the umpires implement this like the lawmakers intend then his free kick tally will be about the same as the other top players (so he'll miss close to 2 frees on average a game). He will still be a star.
If the umpires try to follow the new rules but slip back into their old habits as the season progresses (as usually happens), Selwood will still be the darling of the men in fluoro.
Not a betting person really but I'd say you'd get less than even money on the decline in free kicks being less than 2 per game. This rule change won't affect him and he'll accrue many a free kick.
 

Seeds

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Fantastic news, I think this is the thing that has irritated me the most at the footy over the last few years.

When you strip things right back, why do we have the high contact rule? Because getting whacked in the head/neck is dangerous and players deserve to be protected from that. However, if the player draws or initiates that high contact against themselves then surely it's common sense that they forfeit that protection and it's play on.
That's true if it's always clear cut who's at fault. Half the time it's not. Benefit of the doubt should go to the person who gets whacked. Now it's going to go the other way.
 

Le Grille

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If Walters ducks to get beneath a tackle and plays on, he'll be fine. If he ducks to draw a free kick, then he'll be in trouble.
Just the same with Selwood, shrugging a tackle by raising the arm is fine. Getting a free kick because of it is wrong. You can tell when Selwood is in full "drawing a free kick" mode. He normally gets a few in a row. Eg the Geelong second quarter fightback in the MCG Elimination Final against us in 2012.
Looks like Simpson is dropping the elbow there.
 

Frank Gallagher

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Like all rules it will only work if it's consistent.

A better option to eliminate this is to actually start suspending players for ducking.
Ducking is a legitimate tactic to avoid a tackle, can't go suspending players for it, but if they're caught in the tackle it's HTB.
 

jatz14

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So, rules changed to much big footy acclaim. This cannot end well.

Sent from my XT1068 using Tapatalk
 

Suma Magic

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Thread starter #123
Leigh Matthews disagrees with the interpretation. He is on the Rules subcommittee. It will be up to the umpire to decide, but Matthews said on 3Aw yesterday he did not think the rule will affect Joel Selwood
If you tackle a bicep and the tacklee acts to move the tackle high then it's hard to see how that could not be interpreted as causing the high contact.

It will be interesting.
 

Sttew

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This rule change may stamp out "ducking" but it will also promote sloppy tackling. Instead of protecting the man with the ball it will simply encourage those second to the ball to lay a lazy tackle with impunity
 
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