Hawks trial AFL rule changes at Etihad

Someone's gotta do it. Would be foolhardy to implement a lot of the suggestions raised without trialing them. Who cares who does the trialing!

Excellent idea - I have suggested it before also.

Tlux-I like it. Good one.

I've got another rule idea to avoid congestion around the ball. At a centre bounce, both teams have 4 players each inside the square (like present) but nobody else can enter the square until the ball has been cleared out by these 8 players. The clearance can be by kick, hand ball or by running it out. If a stoppage happens before the ball is cleared, the rule remains in place with 4 on 4. A free kick would end the rule with players allowed to enter/go anywhere on the field. I think this would create more one-on-one contests against star players (you would put your best players in the square at restarts), it would showcase the ruckman more and force teams to spread out, ready for the clearance.

Wow. That should not be allowed. Impossible for the umps not to sympathise when one of their "mates" gets tackled hard. What a joke.

It is actually filtering UP, not down. The kids drafted in the last 2-3 years have all played under these rules already.

That idea, as you point out can't possibly work. I like the sound of what I hear they've been doing in WAFL Colts for some time - 2 players in the back and forward 50 at all times !

Gill Maclachlan basically ratified the 6 x 6 x 6 rule at each centre bounce for 2019 this morning on SEN. This is one rule that will come in and he said others may be announced in October. Your point about filtering down the footy ranks is a good one. Congestion is happening in suburban footy, some junior coaches are doing whatever it takes to win games. Congestion is ugly, destructive and ruining the AFL brand. Change is coming, it is just a matter of how much change.

But is it always Hawthorn? Remember a few weeks back the laptop cafe meeting with Clarko and Gill?

If the AFL drags their heals on this for long enough they will have a generation of players who have already played under these 'rules' in the elite junior comps. So that could be a positive at least. Basically the 'guideline' is that at every stoppage a club must have 2 players in the forward 50 and another 3 forward of centre. It is only a guideline, the umpires will pay a freekick if a team repeatedly ignores it and ignores a few warnings. It is sort of in the category on intimidatory bowling or running on the pitch in cricket. Basically a free kick will be paid when an umpire loses patience. So it works as a 'guideline' in comps where the results don't really matter. Making it work as a 'rule' under the white heat of AFL where every decision is looked at 10 times won't work. Essentially the problem is imagine you have some play on a half forward flank, everyone has moved somewhere and are within 60m of the ball. Then there is a stoppage. 5 sets of blokes need to turn around and run the other way and get back within the 3 seconds before the ump is ready to ball up. None of them will get back in time. Is that a free kick, against whom? We introduce ANOTHER controversial area where we have the panel shows talking about why this one in the first quarter was paid and this other one in the 3rd quarter wasn't. You also have absurd cases where one of the 5 forwards or defenders is going to the bench (ideal time to make a change with the ball locked in the other 50). You don't have 5 forwards because the 5th bloke is on the wing heading to the interchange gates.

It is commonplace.

Been going on for a long time https://thewest.com.au/sport/afl/hawthorn-lead-way-in-respect-for-umps-ng-ya-113551

Anyone else find this weird that a clandestine meeting and subsequent trial was organised with one club? Did the other clubs know about this or is Clarko already running the comp now?

#freekickhawthorn