Adrian Anderson's positive AFL rule changes

Do us footy fans a favour Kevin and disappear, we're sick to death of the constant rule changes. Once you establish a committee like this they have to justify their existence by coming up with stupid recommendations. How about asking the fans what they want.

Adrian Anderson and other people like Kevin Bartlett are destroying our game. I think the Sub rule is a good idea because in the late 2000's to 2010 the game become unattractive with short kicking and over coaching. But its a problem we have created for our selves with the AFL going from 2 inter change players to 4, so we need to fix the problem we created. But rule changes such as the Sling Tackle banned, not being able to bump some from front on, and the rough conduct are ruining the game and for no good reason. The AFL is over reacting, there has never been a serious injury in the history of the AFL a 116 years apart from a Footscray player in the 1970's who was paralysed not from a bump but from a accidental collision. There has been no reason for these rules changes & the other reason their doing this is to make the game with less contact so mum's will let their kid's play it which is a disgrace. The game is a contact sport & by doing this they are not doing the right thing by people who like the game. Adrian Anderson, Kevin Bartlett, Leigh Mathews and other people who think this way need to be sacked and the rules need to be changed back to the way they were.

Adrian Anderson and other people like Kevin Bartlett are destroying our game. I think the Sub rule is a good idea because in the late 2000's to 2010 the game become unattractive with short kicking and over coaching. But its a problem we have created for our selves with the AFL going from 2 inter change players to 4, so we need to fix the problem we created. But rule changes such as the Sling Tackle banned, not being able to bump some from front on, and the rough conduct are ruining the game and for no good reason. The AFL is over reacting, there has never been a serious injury in the history of the AFL a 116 years apart from a Footscray player in the 1970's who was paralysed not from a bump but from a accidental collision. There has been no reason for these rules changes & the other reason their doing this is to make the game with less contact so mum's can let their kid's play it which is a disgrace. The game is a contact sport & by doing this they are not doing the right thing by people who like the game. Adrian Anderson, Kevin Bartlett, Leigh Mathews and other people who think this way need to be sacked and the rules need to be changed back to the way they were.

I think that has a lot to do with the NRL coaches having too much of a say in what rules change. Though I do like that the NRL has trialled a few rule changes in the All Stars match. One I liked that they used this season, was the tackle count restarting instead of a full penalty for minor offenses, hopefully that rule gets a proper trail in the U20's/NSW or QLD Cups.

"Anderson and his team’s contribution to the game can be measured in statistics. There has been an increase in long kicking, contested marks and scoring which has no doubt added excitement to the game. Clearance rates, especially late in games has increased. There has been a decrease in the number of disposals, handballs, short kicks and backwards kicks. " Couldn't these changes be just as easily attributed to teams and coachs altering their tactics to deal with the forward press and have little or no effect from the sub rule? IMO you need at least 5-10 years of data before you can assess the impact of these changes - 12 months is simply to short a timeframe

'Flooding' is widely accepted as being Rodney Eade's brainchild, not Kevin Sheedy's. And the 'ultra-flood' was devised by the Bulldogs Terry Wallace to counteract the dominance of Sheedy's Essendon in 2000 - and in fact caused the Bombers' only defeat in that year.

the interchange infringement penalty is a dud. WRT holding the ball I would rather see the tackler having to tie the ball up so the player can not dispose of it before "holding the ball" is called, assuming there was prior oppurtunity

The Rugby Union style would be good, although its more appropriate for a style of game where possession is more black and white. I don't recall many other sports that have to record anywhere near as much time for "ball in dispute" as Australian-rules does. At the least the association football style, wait a few seconds before blowing the whistle to see if advantage will accrue, if yes, let it go, if not, whistle.

Still don't see why a rugby union approach can't be taken on the advantage rule. There, the umpire (referee) will put their hand up (as if to award a free kick) and call out "advantage ". Importantly, no whistle is blow, therefore, the players don't stop. When advantage is taken, the referee can call out "advantage over" or "play on now" or something like that. If there is no advantage after a few seconds, then the referee can call it back, with a blow of the whistle. This has been suggested before, and the only issue i hear people express is that the players may not hear the umpire. But i dispute that and a quick check of the umpire with his hand up would allay those fears IMO

Just cannot agree, free kicks being taken from site of infringement or the centre, whichever is the greater advantage. A dead ball foul DESERVES very heavy sanction, particularly when its defenders trying to scrag forwards. We absolutely do not want a situation where knocking over goal scorers because a full-back is cheesed that he was scored against is given the same result as a minor ruck-infringement. Foul and pay the price, that has always been how it should be and if we want games flowing and goals scoring then we need to keep the advantage with the offence in these situations.

There's definitely a balancing act there, one that we are still working out: being first to the ball is just about hte most important principle in Australian Football, but alternatively, we don't want people being first to the ball with the sole intent of locking it up - we definitely want less of that.

Yes you may teach your kids to get to the ball first, but at AFL level, the coaches are telling their players "get to the ball first, but if there is no option, absorb the tackle and force a ball up" That way the ball does not become randomly up for grabs, and they can use a stoppage setup to try and regain possession in the manner that they want. Sydney won a premiership playing this style of stoppage based attack. Collingwood have tinkered with this defensive game plan by taking the relatively 'safe' route of the boundary line. The holding the ball rule has not changed - if you view a game from the early 1990's, players were always trying to dispose of the ball when they had it even if it was simply a long bomb to no one in particular, therefore holding the ball was less prevalent. Its the coaching strategy of keeping the ball out of opposition hands and thus in your own possession for longer which is the reason why holding the ball decisions are being made so often.

You make a good point. The opposition to the sub rule, myself included at the time, has been silenced somewhat. The game still flowed and the issue of who to pick as the sub and when to play them added a nice element to the game. I do feel a little bit sorry for those back-up ruckmen though. It's basically killed off their careers (unless they can also play forward of course)

The 'refining' of the rules has coincided with the modernising of the 'look' of the game as it has broadened professionally. Though some of us feel nostalgic about the way the game use to look (the biff)...that time has well and truly passed. And it's better for it. However, one rule I still get frustrated by is the 'holding the ball' rule when a player gets trapped on the ball after being first to it. We teach our kids that the most important principle of footy is to "get the ball". This rule now often rewards the player who is second to the ball. Doesn't feel right.

Talking about rules - why don't they get rid of the free kick in front of goals if an infringement has occured after the first goal. The penalty should be taken back in the midfield. Get rid of the 50 metre penalty too. I also don't know why you have to call our game "Aussie rules" - they don't call soccer "English rules football". I just call our game what it is -Australian football. Re: the advantage rule...It is too muddled. Get it back to where it once was.

I really dont like sub rule, I think it has reduced some players career. Just dont think it has reduced soft tissue injuries, I would really dispute that, never seen so many, even if reduced you can't contribute it to this rule, there could be many reasons for it including, player management, improved medical practice, improved pre-season and isnt it too early to declare this, wouldnt it be better to wait for 3-4 yrs and get a better picture. As for high speed impact's that sub-rule was meant to get rid of they havent come out and said they have reduced which is a clear sign ty havent. The biggest thing is inconsistencies in interpretation, in 2010 Mummy got outed for 2 wks for dangerous tackle on Ablett, but he was on ground and more or less rolled him around on the ground. Hunt actually picked up Parker and almost spear tackled him and he gets two to serve in pre-season? Geelong seem to get a lot of decisions that dont have much impact. Of all teams Carlton, Collingwood and Geelong seem to get looked after the most. See a lot of incidents that go un-noticed, that other teams pay he price for.

The Doss, Good piece. Nice to see some positivity on The Roar. They might make a few errors of judgement here and there, but overall I agree that the rules being tinkered is good for the game and the fans. Remember the coaches/clubs are a pretty self interested group, which is totally understandable given the stakes, so they dont have the game or fans at top of their priorities list (if they did, we wouldnt see flooding). Think the AFL does a much better job than the NRL in keeping the game interesting (and i'm a fan of both games, not having a dig!) Bring on 2012!!!!