Fremantle chief Steve Rosich has declared the Dockers won’t be used as guinea pigs for proposed AFL rule changes that have sharply divided players, coaches and fans.
And in another strong intervention on Thursday, St Kilda coach Alan Richardson warned the league against pursuing “exhibition games” after the Saints put the changes to the test during an AFL-supervised training session.
The AFL’s competition committee has agreed to at least half a dozen rule changes aimed at reducing congestion after meeting in Melbourne on Wednesday.
AFL football operations manager Steve Hocking has refused to outline the specific alterations that will be recommended to the AFL commission and executive.
Starting positions at centre bounces and forward and defensive-50 stoppages, a longer goal square and the elimination of prior opportunity were among the rules trialled by the Saints in a 20-minute scratch match at Moorabbin.
The AFL has left the door open to trialling the changes during late-season games involving teams that are no chance of making the top eight.
Fremantle round-21 clash with Carlton had been earmarked as a potential option but Rosich on Thursday said the Dockers would not agree to participate.
“If it got to the stage that a trial was proposed for one of our games in 2018, Fremantle’s position is that we would not support that occurring,” Rosich said in a statement.
Rosich added he had spoken to Hocking, who reiterated trials were more likely at reserves-level and any AFL test game would require approval from competing clubs and the AFL Commission.
Richardson was also uneasy about the Saints’ potential involvement in the trials.
“That would worry me … just going out to play an exhibition game,” Richardson said.
“That would be something that I feel uncomfortable about.”
Richmond coach Damien Hardwick and Collingwood counterpart Nathan Buckley have both expressed support for AFL-level trials, although their respective ladder positions means neither team would be asked to play in such a game.
A major hurdle for the league would be finding a way to ensure the draft order is not compromised.
Carlton appear certain to finish bottom of the ladder and receive the No.1 draft pick but just four points separate the 14th-placed Bulldogs from 17th-placed Suns.
At least six but potentially as many as 12 recommendations will be made for the AFL commission to consider for endorsement at meetings in August and September.
Any changes set to come into force next season will be announced by October.
Raj
Guest
hahahaha yah Ross wouldn’t like the thought of his team having to move the ball forward into open spaces... he must wake up during the night in cold sweats Freo v Carlton is unlikely to have any consequences to draft or finals... is this just about ego? I would have thought it’d be something interesting. We can’t until the pre-season comp because many of us don’t want to watch another year of what has been going on for 10 years now! at some point people will switch off
Jon Boy
Guest
Dixon kicked 3 goals last week 4 in a earlier game this year before a long term injury. If you google WAFL scores during or after the game you will get all the stats.
Downsey
Guest
I really need to start following the WAFL (my shameful confession). Interested to see Strnadica play and how he stacks up against Jones.
Jon Boy
Guest
Looking forward to see new youngsters to make there debut , Dixon, Switkowski and North all have had injury issues but have all played the last 3-4 weeks and playing at Peel again on Saturday exciting prospects .Strnadica hopefully gets a crack as well.
Downsey
Guest
I'm open to the trails being exciting to watch, but I don't want to take the chance on my financial commitment to the club that this will be the case when it's also as likely to be a circus. On a personal note - and you know I'm about the vibe because I don't have the framework to explain my conclusions any other way - it's one thing for me to know deep down that the last few matches aren't that important, and it's another to have the AFL rub it in my face by using them to trial rule changes. It's a bit like, "Fair go, AFL. No need to dig the studs in."
Downsey
Guest
There's a solid argument to keep him around, but attitudes towards him have soured (DF, we'll never see eye-to-eye on those kinds of calls though because we operate in different circles) and it'll be a shame to see his eventual curtain call slick with rotten tomatoes. I wonder if his questionable loyalty during trade talks last year impacted on this. Thx for the info on Grey.
Dalgety Carrington
Roar Guru
Semantics is exactly what it isn't. I pretty much know what they're saying and why, maybe you can do me a favour and be specific about what you are saying.
Jimbo crow
Guest
in my uneducated opinion the fuss about trialling the changes this season is a clever bit of deflection by Gillon, shifts the debate away from the nature of the 'new' rules into other areas. I think he is wildly optimistic in saying ony 2/3rds of fans oppose them. I reckon fix the current rules -- or maybe more the interpretation and consistency! Not the umpires fault in many cases, the game is just too fast to umpire well. Both below the knee frees paid against the crows last week were poor and worked against the player making a genuine attempt to get the ball. I don't get the deliberate out of bounds either - how often do ruckmen simply punch the ball over with very clear intent and don't get pinged, yet a guy running flat out with an oppo player on his tail kicking a bit wayward gets pinged. grrr Leave the game alone until current rules are simplified and consistently applied, or maybe reduce the interchange - that will slow the game down for sure, if that the intent of the changes.
Peter the Scribe
Roar Guru
aaah semantics Dal, you know what they're talking about
Jon Boy
Guest
I am not disputing Ballantyne's courage or his service to the club is he any tougher at the football than Brady Grey or young Crowden ? of course he is not.! H.B. is long, long gone past his best and at his age he is not value to the future of the club and you must pump games into young players.We have all heard Luke McPharlin, Paul Hasleby and numerous football people say he should be moved on and i agree with them. I understand some people's sentiment but as a club if you want success you have to make hard decisions.
Dalgety Carrington
Roar Guru
Well duh. Are you playing games now? That's what I've been saying. Trialling is common to both (intra-club & for premiership points). The difference is around where the most appropriate place of trialling is. There is no reluctance to trial per se.
Peter the Scribe
Roar Guru
Two different issues Dalgety. Trials and trials for premiership points as floated by Gil.
dontknowmuchaboutfootball
Guest
Or watch him sprint from 50m away to hurl his body into someone twice his size in a marking contest, just make sure the mark spills and an incoming teammate can scoop it up and go inside 50 and score. No stat recorded, not even a score involvement, but as much his goal as whoever it was who kicked it.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
Downsey, he only cops flack from 3 Freo fans who just post multiple times. Ballas gets picked because of his forward pressure. Watch his run at games. TV does notget close to covering that. In fact, it never traces that. Not everyone thinks like JonBoy or comments from the fifth pot in the bar like 13th Man.
Dalgety Carrington
Roar Guru
In some ways it's the lot of the small forward. It's not the easiest job on the footy field and it usually requires some fiestiness, which can be misunderstood by some when times are leaner or things turn to poopt. I remember there being a lot of boenheaded antagonism directed at Medhurst too. There's still plenty of love for Ballantyne around the place though, he's a gutsy li'l fella. I'd like to see him keep his feet more now though. Grey can't be too far away from a recall. The WAFL reports on him seem to be good, but he's only been back from a pretty long layoff for a few weeks now.
Dalgety Carrington
Roar Guru
It could be quite an exciting thing to watch though. A lot of the word coming out of the intraclub trials (including Freo's), is that it seemed to be pretty good to watch. It'd be hard to escape from the novelty factor though and maybe to much pressure for the umpires to do their job at a standard for a premiership points match, even a largely inconsequential one.
Downsey
Roar Pro
Gawd, I feel for Ballas. He was such a club champion and now look at how much flack he cops from
supportersbarrackersno probably even supporters (thanks for making me schizophrenic over how to label fans, Don Freo). It'll eventually be a send off less than what he deserves. Shame. Is Brady Grey in the mix? Anyone know how he's travelling?Downsey
Roar Pro
I paid for a season membership under the current model and I'd like to see the final games played out under the same model, regardless of where Freo sits on the ladder. I didn't pay a season membership with the knowledge that if we weren't finals contenders our last few games would be used to trial changes. Perhaps the benefit to Freo will be a head start experiencing the changes and making some more informed forward planning (as much as Lyon is capable of this... *dodges swipes*) but I'd still rather it didn't happen on my coin.
Dalgety Carrington
Roar Guru
They're not against trialling the possible changes. They're against trialling the possible changes in a game for premiership points.
Dalgety Carrington
Roar Guru
Maybe they had some information about him that indicated he wouldn't of been ready for AFL footy. Certainly he wasn't on anyone's radar in that time. Who's to say that if he was drafted earlier he might've been spat out of the system with all parties disillusioned (aka Schloithe). There's nothing to say that now was exactly the right time for him to be drafted and he's playing at the level now because of that.