Chris Judd of Carlton and Brendan Fevola of Brisbane acknowledge each other after the AFL NAB Challenge match between the Carlton Blues and the Brisbane Lions at Visy Park, Melbourne.
The 2010 AFL season is almost upon us, and while every fan in the country is swelling with excitement for the matches to begin, those same fans are also anticipating the diabolical episodes that will come with new game rules and more tribunal mockery.
Anything good is usually simple, but the AFL likes to make easy things hard and sensible things non-sensical.
It seems as though we cannot begin a new year without rule changes.
Remember when short kicks were changed from 10m to 15m? That was to stop 7m kicks being paid by umpires, but I still see those same 7m kicks paid time and again.
The truth is that it’s no easier to judge 15m kicks than 10m ones. Anybody that tells me different is not only a monkey’s uncle, but King Kong’s long-lost brosin (brother-cousin).
Useless rule change, even though we will move inevitably to 20m in coming seasons.
Hands in the back?
This is the most controversial and glaringly horrendous rule ever to be seen on a footy field. Nobody had a problem with bodywork (elbows, forearms, nostrils, etc.) being used in a marking contest.
Sometimes players got away with a push, other times they didn’t. Enter the hands in the back rule to abolish the grey area.
But the AFL is colour blind. Not only is the area still grey, but it has turned into a more charcoal-type darkness. But still, a rule is a rule. As fans, all we ask is that umpires police it and not forget about it after Round 3.
A rule that worked last year was not allowing behinds to be forced deliberately. It actually worked! But still, was it necessary? I don’t think it has improved the game that much, but at least it hasn’t hindered it. This year, it’s the no-go zone and players faking for free kicks.
I understand that players faking should be stopped, but if you’re going to do it, do it right. Suspend them, don’t fine them. These days when footy is all about money, fines are a joke.
The average player makes over $200,000 a year, so do you really think they’re going to worry about a $1,500 fine?
The biggest beef I have with new rule changes is that the AFL can’t even implement existing ones with any degree of efficiency. My pet peeve is holding the ball and dropping the ball.
Last I looked, dropping the ball is still a rule. However, it’s hardly awarded and oft-confused with holding the ball. How can so many umpires get so many holding the ball decisions wrong?
What the AFL should have done over the summer was to show them more videos and examples of what the rule means.
A few back lashings wouldn’t have gone astray either. Firstly, you need to lay a tackle and not just tap the player on the shoulder. Secondly, any longer than three seconds is holding the ball. And lastly, get it wrong again and you’re going back to under 16s.
All this I can take, but if last week’s talk of bringing nine point goals into the premiership season occurs, then I will truly switch off. I had a good deal of respect for Gerard Healy, but to change the scoring system is pure madness.
Sheer ludicrousness! Mind-boggling absurdity! Forget about the flaws in the way nine point goals are awarded, all I ask is that every fan look deep in your soul and give me any good reason what this would bring to the game?
And now Leigh Matthews is on board with it, which means I have to muster every ounce of strength in my body to hold back the tears.
Speaking of absurdity, I now come to the tribunal. They may as well be called last week’s curry, because there is no consistency from week to week.
The points system should work in theory, but certainly not the way the AFL has set it up. A player is reported for striking and then after the mathematics are over and he appeals, the tribunal’s findings go from three weeks to one week. Not only did they forget to carry the one, but they used division instead of multiplication!
Whatever happened to a smack in the head being worth two weeks, regardless of previous good record or early appeals? And don’t give someone three weeks for the same offence that another player got five weeks for.
It is that simple.
Common sense is thrown out the window when it comes to the AFL’s rules, umpires and tribunal decisions. For the fans, that means unnecessary yelling, potential embolisms and the occasional television repair.
But we lived through the swine flu and sure enough, we’ll live through another footy season.
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