I don't understand this at all. As others have said, how do they decide who initiated contact? If the ruckman is caught behind in the ruck contest and makes an effort to get to the front, and the guy in front pretends to not see the other ruckman coming and moves slightly to the side the other guy is coming from, does he milk a free kick? I can see both ruckmen starting on the boundary and running backwards with the hope of making contact with the other ruckman or a range of other stupid scenarios. This rule change is very vague, and has so many grey areas.
We have a hard enough time explaining the game to Japanese players as it is, but when we don't even understand the rules of the AFL, how are we supposed to teach others? What a joke. Personally, I have played ruck for 10 years. I have had a knee reco, hip arthroscopies, torn menisci and bits of floating bone chopped out of my knees. Thanks for destroying my future in the game AFL.