Mega Thread Port Forum General AFL Thread Part 31

[Festerz]

They don't need ruck nominations. It's dumb. Just penalise a team if they have 2 players competing.

Yeah - but that's not the only thing the nomination rule is there to stamp out is it?

It's to stop a team gaming the ruck contest by creating confusion over whose competing. For example by pretending one (or more) players is their ruck but having another player contest from the other side. i.e. one player pretends to be the ruck but never contests the ruck and is just a dummy to draw out the opposition.

Given how critical stoppages are in the modern game, this is a legitimate concern and something coaches will exploit if given the chance.

 

[gbear]

The AFL says the construction of a roofed, 23,000-seat stadium remains a requirement for entry of the Tasmanian Devils into the competition in 2028.

'No stadium, no team': AFL refuses to budge on Hobart project

A group of Tasmanian politicians opposed to the proposed Hobart stadium has failed to convince the AFL to abandon the contentious project during a meeting in Melbourne.

www.abc.net.au

Good. Delay Tasmania’s entry for awhile. It will be easier to secure our top prospects in the next couple of years.

 

[Lagooner]

Yeah - but that's not the only thing the nomination rule is there to stamp out is it?

It's to stop a team gaming the ruck contest by creating confusion over whose competing. For example by pretending one (or more) players is their ruck but having another player contest from the other side. i.e. one player pretends to be the ruck but never contests the ruck and is just a dummy to draw out the opposition.

Given how critical stoppages are in the modern game, this is a legitimate concern and something coaches will exploit if given the chance.

You’re essentially describing a third man up situation, which would be a free kick against the team with the player pretending to contest the ruck.

 

[Festerz]

You’re essentially describing a third man up situation, which would be a free kick against the team with the player pretending to contest the ruck.

No - only 1 player actually contests the ruck. So no free kick.

Without nomination, having players standing around pretending that they will ruck is what a smart coach will do in the modern game as a gaming ploy and would not be a breach of the one up rule. It would just create a mockery of the ruck contest.

 

[Lagooner]

No - only 1 player actually contests the ruck.

Having players standing around pretending that they will is just a gaming ploy and not a breach of the one up rule.

Who cares if they’re just standing there? The first player to motion towards the ball is the ruck. Easy.

 

[Festerz]

Who cares if they’re just standing there? The first player to motion towards the ball is the ruck. Easy.

No they're not just 'standing there'. This isn't 1975.

Think about it. You've seen what happens at a throw up right? The movement of all players around the contest to gain advantage against opponents - especially in the forward arcs?

Expecting an umpire to call a ruck contest breach because of 'motion towards the ball' under those circumstances is obviously unworkable. Especially at a time when we are trying to take controversy from unnecessary umpire judgement calls out of the game.

 

[Lagooner]

No they're not just 'standing there'. This isn't 1975.

You've seen what happens at a throw up right? The movement of all players around the contest to gain advantage against opponents - especially in the forward arcs?

Expecting an umpire to call a ruck contest breach because of 'movement towards the ball' under those circumstances is obviously unworkable.

The movement isn’t towards the ball ten feet up in the air. In fact players are moving away from the ball and towards where they want it to be tapped. It would be very clear if someone faked a rucking motion.

 

[Festerz]

It would be very clear if someone faked a rucking motion.

That's not what I'm talking about. Anyway I've made my point.

Which is - requiring a player from each team to nominate as the ruck is not just about the eradicating the two rucks up issue and enforcing it not the problem it's being made out to be. And it's a heck of a lot easier to adjudicate in game than the alternatives.

Bigger fish to fry for those interested in meaningful rule changes that don't bring secondary consequences.

 

[Festerz]

Good. Delay Tasmania’s entry for awhile. It will be easier to secure our top prospects in the next couple of years.

Highly respected author Richard Flanagan wrote in today's Age, I think, an excellent piece on the Tasmanian AFL team controversy and how it and the way AFL House is playing it is dividing rather than uniting Tasmanians towards their state's entry into the AFL.

For decades the dream of a Tasmanian team was the island’s passion and the nation’s sentimental hope. As the VFL went national in the ’80s and became imperial in its mien, renaming itself the AFL in 1990, Tasmania, with its outstanding footballing tradition, made several proposals to join the national league, each rebuffed, the AFL instead coveting colonising the larger population centres. Footy, once dominant on the island, withered. Desperation took hold. Advocates of a Tassie team came to believe that without an AFL side, footy was condemned to die on the island.

It took an organisation as ruthless as the AFL to exploit that desperation, demanding a blank cheque from a broke state for a new roofed stadium at a spectacularly inappropriate site in the centre of the last Georgian cityscape in Australia in order for the dream to be realised. The stadium has become, to most Tasmanians, a gigantic death cap mushroom they refuse to swallow.

A footy club meant to unite Tasmanians is bitterly dividing them

The brutal irony is that the AFL’s demand for a near-bankrupt state to build a stadium to get a football team may lead to loathing and even failure in its home state.

www.theage.com.au

 

[longdonkey]

Rhys Mathieson

36

Rhys Mathieson

Age

28

Ht

186cm

Wt

86kg

Pos.

M/F

Career

Season

Last 5

D

17.1

4star

K

7.9

3star

HB

9.2

5star

M

2.9

3star

T

3.4

5star

CL

3.4

5star

No current season stats available

D

18.4

5star

K

9.4

4star

HB

9.0

5star

M

2.2

3star

T

4.0

5star

CL

2.8

5star

who looked like the Hulk the last season playing for the Lions got a 3 year ban for taking Anabolic steroids while playing in the QAFL. Do people think that the AFL is a clean sport?

 

[PatientMental]

Rhys Mathieson who looked like the Hulk the last season playing for the Lions got a 3 year ban for taking Anabolic steroids while playing in the QAFL. Do people think that the AFL is a clean sport?

He did go from weedy little boy to roided up meat ball after he was delisted.

So if he was on the gear at AFL level he was doing it wrong.

 

[crafty_bernardo]

Did that not get checked before being uploaded? Jeez

 

[El_Scorcho]

Yeah - but that's not the only thing the nomination rule is there to stamp out is it?

It's to stop a team gaming the ruck contest by creating confusion over whose competing. For example by pretending one (or more) players is their ruck but having another player contest from the other side. i.e. one player pretends to be the ruck but never contests the ruck and is just a dummy to draw out the opposition.

Given how critical stoppages are in the modern game, this is a legitimate concern and something coaches will exploit if given the chance.

Simply give a free kick in this situation.

Teams will stop doing it pretty quickly. If there's confusion over which one of your players was going to ruck, or if the opposition could have been tricked, it's a free kick against. If 2 of your players accidentally both try to tap the ball, free kick against. If you hold a player out so another player can come through like Geelong used to do to get this rule in place in the first place, free kick against.

 

[El_Scorcho]

Tasmania will build the stadium, get an AFL team and this controversy will be laughable in 10 years. It's an investment in culture that has benefits that simply can't be measured financially.

It's literally butted up against the CBD. The complaints about the location are insane. Is the Hobart CBD notoriously difficult to get to or something?

I'd hate to be the MP who cost Tasmania an AFL team after 40 years of exclusion, locking Tassie out of AFL football probably forever. It'd be worse than Nerio Ferraro's cowardice in 1990.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

So who is going to be the first player who regularly handballs the ball into oppo players' foot and shins, near the boundary line, and regular pick up free kicks for the oppo kicking the ball out of bounds under the new rule??

 

[RossFC]

So who is going to be the first player who regularly handballs the ball into oppo players' foot and shins, near the boundary line, and regular pick up free kicks for the oppo kicking the ball out of bounds under the new rule??

I'd consider that to be a deflection off someones legs and a throw in, rather than a disposal by foot, if that happened.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

I'd consider that to be a deflection off someones legs and a throw in, rather than a disposal by foot, if that happened.

If you do it now and the ball goes out on the full from the oppo players foot or shin, the umpires pay an out on the full free kick to the player who did the handball. I've seen it a two or three times over the last couple of decades.

 

[Festerz]

I'd consider that to be a deflection off someones legs and a throw in, rather than a disposal by foot, if that happened.

Yep. The SANFL rules are very clear on this and I imagine exactly how the AFL will apply it :



The same 'intent' definition does not apply in an OOB on the full scenario so there's the difference.

 

[Holden Hillbilly]

Fremantle ruckman Luke Jackson

9

Luke Jackson

Age

24

Ht

199cm

Wt

102kg

Pos.

F/R

Career

Season

Last 5

D

8.3

2star

K

3.3

1star

HB

5.0

4star

M

1.5

2star

T

1.0

3star

G

0.3

3star

D

8.3

2star

K

3.3

1star

HB

5.0

3star

M

1.5

2star

T

1.0

2star

G

0.3

3star

D

8.3

3star

K

3.3

2star

HB

5.0

4star

M

1.5

2star

T

1.0

3star

G

0.3

3star

has been tipped to become one of the most lethal players in the game after the AFL announced significant changes to the ruck rules for next season. The league has made seven more rule or interpretation changes for 2026 to follow the decisions to scrap the centre bounce and sub rules from earlier this month. With the ball now set to be thrown up to re-start play, the AFL has banned ruckmen from crossing the centre line to engage with their opponent before contesting the ball. That rule will encourage ruckmen to leap for the ball instead of wrestling.

Jackson’s athleticism was regularly stifled at centre bounces by ruckmen being allowed to cross the centre line and block their opponent. He jumped at just two of his 10 centre bounces during the elimination final loss to Gold Coast. Forward Michael Frederick said Jackson would be an even better player in 2026. “It’s pretty exciting. With him in there and being able to use his athletic ability it will be unreal,” Frederick told The West Australian. “Opposition teams who either have those kind of ruckmen or have to scout for ruckmen like Luke will hopefully give them headaches. That’s a strength we can take for us with the midfield we have got.

Set to dominate! AFL rule change to unleash Freo’s unicorn

Fremantle fans should be rejoicing over the changes to AFL rules with the new ruck laws set to release Luke Jackson to jump at the ball again and turn him into a wrecking machine.

thewest.com.au

 

[Holden Hillbilly]

Dion Prestia

3

Dion Prestia

Age

33

Ht

175cm

Wt

84kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

24.1

5star

K

12.7

5star

HB

11.4

5star

M

3.1

3star

T

4.4

5star

CL

4.6

5star

D

21.2

5star

K

10.4

4star

HB

10.8

5star

M

2.4

3star

T

4.2

5star

CL

3.2

4star

D

12.8

4star

K

6.0

3star

HB

6.8

5star

M

3.2

4star

T

3.0

5star

CL

1.4

4star

and Steven May

1

Steven May

Age

33

Ht

193cm

Wt

101kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

14.7

4star

K

10.5

4star

HB

4.2

3star

M

5.1

5star

T

1.5

3star

MG

307.3

4star

D

15.5

4star

K

12.1

5star

HB

3.4

2star

M

3.4

3star

T

0.5

1star

MG

378.4

5star

D

12.4

4star

K

8.8

4star

HB

3.6

3star

M

3.2

4star

T

1.8

4star

have been charged by Victoria Police 11 months after an alleged assault incident in Sorrento. Both will appear in court on November 27.

 

[Papa G]

Sport is so bad these days. The AFL is probably the worst. Test Cricket and International Rugby Union are about the only sports that hold my interest.

 

[EskimoPAFC]

I'd consider that to be a deflection off someones legs and a throw in, rather than a disposal by foot, if that happened.

Actually you're close but its a little more complicated.

Once the ball deflects off the players foot the first step is to check the guernsey. If the guernsey has on it blue and white hoops, or brown and yellow vertical stripes, then the ball should be thrown in. If the guernsey has black, with teal and white chevrons, then its a free kick against.

 

[Festerz]

Dion Prestia and Steven May have been charged by Victoria Police 11 months after an alleged assault incident in Sorrento. Both will appear in court on November 27.

Ahh, Prestia going for the old 'I wasn't physically there' defence...

 

[Rising Power]

So who is going to be the first player who regularly handballs the ball into oppo players' foot and shins, near the boundary line, and regular pick up free kicks for the oppo kicking the ball out of bounds under the new rule??

I remember Che Cockatoo-Collins did that playing for Port and had the free paid to him.

 

[chiwigi]

Highly respected author Richard Flanagan wrote in today's Age, I think, an excellent piece on the Tasmanian AFL team controversy and how it and the way AFL House is playing it is dividing rather than uniting Tasmanians towards their state's entry into the AFL.

For decades the dream of a Tasmanian team was the island’s passion and the nation’s sentimental hope. As the VFL went national in the ’80s and became imperial in its mien, renaming itself the AFL in 1990, Tasmania, with its outstanding footballing tradition, made several proposals to join the national league, each rebuffed, the AFL instead coveting colonising the larger population centres. Footy, once dominant on the island, withered. Desperation took hold. Advocates of a Tassie team came to believe that without an AFL side, footy was condemned to die on the island.

It took an organisation as ruthless as the AFL to exploit that desperation, demanding a blank cheque from a broke state for a new roofed stadium at a spectacularly inappropriate site in the centre of the last Georgian cityscape in Australia in order for the dream to be realised. The stadium has become, to most Tasmanians, a gigantic death cap mushroom they refuse to swallow.

A footy club meant to unite Tasmanians is bitterly dividing them

The brutal irony is that the AFL’s demand for a near-bankrupt state to build a stadium to get a football team may lead to loathing and even failure in its home state.

www.theage.com.au

I genuinely don't get how it was the lack of an AFL team that caused the game to wither. That makes no sense, surely it would make the local game the big event.