The AFL’s controversial shot clock will stay, but players won’t be able to see it tick down in the final two minutes of each quarter.
In changes aimed at curbing the trend where players have slowed matches by running the shot clock down, AFL football operations manager Mark Evans said umpires would also be instructed to give players the hurry-up.
“If the umpire thinks the player is just deliberately delaying starting a proper goal-kicking routine, then the player can be moved on and hopefully that cleans up most things,” Evans said.
“But we’ve put in a double-layer of protection. We’ll take it off the screen in the last two minutes of each quarter for now.”
The AFL were pushed into the move after North Melbourne’s Mason Wood ran the clock down at the end of his club’s round seven win over St Kilda.
With less than 30 seconds on the close and while holding a one-point lead, Wood waited until after the siren sounded before taking his shot at goal.
“We didn’t like the look at the end of the North Melbourne game and have tried to mitigate it,” Evans said.
Evans also indicated the rule would be reassessed at the end of the 2016 season.
John
Guest
Why did the AFL bring in the shot clock? I don't recall a huge uproar of supporters demanding it at the end of last season. One of the most exciting aspects of our game is not knowing how much time is left in a quarter AFL should embrace this. Sometimes I wonder if Mark Evans has to be seen to be doing something to justify his job.
Pope Paul VII
Guest
will test the counting ability of some players
Rich_daddy
Roar Guru
Another example of the AFL dicking around with the game then coming up with some half-arsed "solution" that creates more problems than it solves. Get back to basics guys
Sami
Roar Rookie
No thanks, I like players getting the same amount of time instead of the umpires forgetting to mentally try and count seconds and making it up as they go.
Sami
Roar Rookie
This is the first, the shot clock is new this year.
Axle an the Guru
Guest
Gee it's hard for these brainy AFL honchos, Dur just go back to the way the clock was 25 years ago.
Liam O'Neill
Guest
Why wasn't this a problem the first time it happened or is this the first.
Vocans
Guest
Once again the AFL does something for 'the look' rather than the reason. I'm not the first to suggest the kicker should have disposed of the ball before the clock runs down, as it is in basketball. How long the clock is given I'm not sure. 30 secs might not be enough. Does it start once the player is behind the mark, or from the awarding of the kick? Both can be gamed. So, the question is: is there any solution that can't be gamed? If not what do we do about that? Choose the least gameable and fairest option: but what is that? None of this can be worked through by addressing the look, only by constant reference to the goal, and only after a really thorough reviewing of that goal. Otherwise, the game suffers through more ad hockery.
Sami
Roar Rookie
yep, agreed. Another 'fix' for a non-issue.
Paul D
Roar Guru
Surprised the AFL hasn’t instituted mandatory acting classes for all players so that they don’t appear to be blatantly wasting time. The only thing Wood did wrong was obviously stand there with his hands on his hips. If he’d slowly walked back, taken time to compose himself, take a few deep breaths, adjust his socks, tucked his mouthguard into them and then taken his kick no-one would have cared less. ““We didn’t like the look at the end of the North Melbourne game and have tried to mitigate it,” Evans said.” So now we’re making rule changes on the fly for aesthetic reasons. Apparently the game can be inconsistent and have different rules at different times, so long as it looks pretty. That’s the priority. Evans fast disappearing up his own asshole.