The evolution of the AFL kicking game

I’ve been a footy fan for 50 years and the suggestions below are the best that I’ve thought of or heard recently.

I haven’t been to a match in 20 years, but I would like to see the game progress. After all, it is self-evident that going back to the rules we had 20 years ago, or even ten, just would not work.

As for other sports, imagine if football still played two points for a win instead of three. A big call, but the right one. By the way, the structure of the recent AFL survey leaves a lot to be desired, as perhaps half of the survey responses are required to be of the yes/no variety, which indicates lazy thinking or bias – deliberate or otherwise.

Rugby is called the running game, football is called the beautiful game – ours is the kicking game, so let’s have less congestion and more long kicking.

1. Scoring
a. Two points for a deliberate rushed behind. the league got the ‘Hodge Rule’ half right. Two points would provide clarity about the penalty. Let the punishment fit the crime.

b. Two points for hitting the goal post, one for hitting the point post. If we’re going to reward kicks that miss, let’s do it in proportion. This would also add to the drama without taking away anything from field play.

2. Field play
a. Reduce 50m penalty to 40m. Fifty was always too far – especially now when players want to move the ball on quicker than ever before defenders can set up – usually with an out number.

b. Increase minimum marking distance from 15m to 20m. Besides the obvious benefits, this should mean that umps have fewer calls of this type to make.

b. Longer goal square and no kicking to yourself in the air. A trade-off between getting the ball out longer and possibly wider by a long kick, rather than a nothing kick – this is not Gaelic football.

In addition, the player kicking out would not be allowed to regain possession until another player had touched the ball, although he would be allowed to touch or knock the ball on.

c. No kicking backwards into the defensive 50 arc. The line is already there, which should make it relatively easy to adjudicate, so let’s use it to try this ‘minimum change’ pragmatic approach to reducing congestion. No kicking backwards to outside your forward 50 would be worth looking at too.

d. Two or three forwards and defenders inside each forward 50 at all times. Again, this would help to reduce some congestion, especially as it would likely drag one or more others away from the stoppage area.

c. No third man up. Third man gives away a free kick. This is not to say that a third player could not compete with a ruckman for an errant bounce or throw-in. Hard to get a throw-up wrong, but they often look way too low these days – usually giving rucks no time to do anything except grapple.

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3. Players
a. Sixteen players per side. Has been trialed and apparently worked well. Try it in combination with 3-4 interchange players and no cap on rotations. Let the coaches play with that and see how may times it’s worth running on and off.

b. Twenty y.o. minimum. Sure, there’s life beyond football, but apparently most are ill-prepared for it. Get a trade or a degree (or most of one) so there’s something substantial there when you hang up the boots.

c. ‘One off/both off’ Rule. Offender issued with a yellow card when a deliberate act injures an opposition player. If reviews show the card was issued in error, he can come back on – otherwise he won’t be able to until the injured player returns.

4. Umpires
a. Three umps good, four umps bad. Put it away: three good umps have got to be better than three plus one if they haven’t got a quality fourth.

b. Protected zone no, illegal interference yes. Enough said: the players know (or they should). Give the umps some credit and some leeway.