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Hawthorn players Cyril Rioli (33) and Lance Franklin celebrate a goal during the AFL Round 22 match between the Hawthorn Hawks and Collingwood Magpies at the MCG, Melbourne. Slattery Images
My personal footy background was in football, rugby league (at high school and local grade and group one rep) and in rugby (SU Intercollegiate, uni lower grades), so I have no background whatsoever in Aussie Rules.
When we moved to Victoria we switched allegiance from the Sydney Swans to the Geelong Cats, primarily to ensure service in local shops (not really). I watch a game each week and, therefore, feel qualified to make comment as an armchair critic.
Aussie Rules needs a sin bin.
Nothing focuses the mind of player, coach and fans than an enforced spell on the sideline. The game also needs a send-off rule for acts of extreme violence.
Why should a team keep its full complement of players on the field while one of the opposition has been given a trip to Disneyland, thereby rendering him less effective or necessitating his replacement?
Maybe the answer lies in a yellow card and red card system.
The message would be loud and clear if a team found itself with 17 players against 18. It might need to happen only once in a season.
League, rugby and football seem to have sorted this out. The AFL continues to have players only put on report for a trip to the tribunal, suits and lawyers and all. Thugs need to be put out of a game, immediately subsequent to their acts of thuggery.
I’d love to see a quarterback type pass, to complement handballing. I doubt it would account for more than five per cent of passes in a game but I think it would be spectacular.
I realise that the American ball is smaller and more amenable to such passes, but I can also recall rugby training on SU No 1 in the early ’60s when players mucking about would throw torpedo passes 20-30 metres with a rugby ball without any difficulty.
Imagine a Lance Franklin at full belt taking a 20-metre quarterback pass bang on his chest.
I can’t see any logical reason for arm wrestling at a throw-in. I have no problem with incidental body contact, but when players lock arms, they serve only to restrict free access to the ball and that can only be a bad thing.
Some of it is downright juvenile (as are most of their ‘blues’).
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