AFL: Put the whistle away
There is no denying the hottest topic in the AFL right now is free kicks.
Alastair Clarkson made his opinion on the state of the game public after his side’s gritty win over North Melbourne in Round 4 of this season.
Clarkson stated the game was in a “dreadful place”, and made specific mention of the holding-the-ball intepretations of current umpires. Clarkson claimed that “we’re just not paying the free kick, yet we’ll do one for tiggy-touchwood ruck or marking infringement.”
Despite the reason behind Clarkson’s uproar, the four-time Premiership Hawks’ coach showcased his influence across the league, with umpires cracking down on holding-the-ball decisions just one round later.
However, a mid-season change in how holding-the-ball decisions are interpreted has proven to do just the opposite of what was intended.
The rule tweak has caused confusion amongst teams, with players uncertain on whether or not they will be pinned when in possession of the ball. Players are starting to let opponents take possession of the ball first, in the hope of receiving a cheap free kick, rather than take possession themselves.
No longer are players being rewarded or protected for going for the ball.
The below the knees rule adds another element to players becoming hesitant to attack the footy. The rule was brought in by the AFL to help protect players’ legs from injury after several incidents, notably when then-Sydney forward Gary Rohan suffered a compound fracture to his right leg when North Melbourne’s Lindsay Thomas slid into a contest in 2012.
Players are now nervous that they will give away a free kick if they go in hard to a contest, and if they do win the ball, with a player’s prior opportunity reducing, they risk giving a way a free kick for holding-the-ball if they are tackled.
Prior to this season, a player could confidently take possession of the ball without having to worry about being pinned by the umpire. Now, after the new holding-the-ball interpretation was introduced this season, we are seeing players panic when tackled and more or less throwing the ball away from themselves to avoid giving away a free.
Although this does provide a positive aspect to the game, with reduced congestion if a player is willing to dispose of the ball instead of forcing a stoppage. However, is this really in the spirit of our great game. Australian Rules Football was built around hard, contested play -not players waiting for their opponents to take possession of the ball in order to win a cheap free kick. I know the game is evolving, however, if we continue to introduce more meticulous rules each season, then we will begin to dismantle the entire fabric of our game.
When the season returned, after the AFL was postponed for 3-months due to COVID-19 restrictions, the state of the game was immediately scrutinised by fans and members of the media. People were complaining about the standard of games and the lack of skills from players. This then sent the AFL into panic mode, introducing new rules and interpretations to try and fix the game.
But the game wasn’t broken, the players had just taken 3-months off full-time training and match simulations — they were just rusty. Of course their skills would be down, team morale would be low and game-plans would not have been solidified — only a few weeks prior to the season restart, players weren’t even certain if the season was even going ahead. It was always going to take a few rounds before we saw the standard of play improve, however the AFL was forced to make changes due to backlash from fans, certain coaches and the media.
Umpires were encouraged to pay more free kicks in an attempt to open up the game and reduce congestion around the ball. Although this may be the case, it feels like we are watching a completely different game at times.
Take the Carlton vs North Melbourne game over the weekend as an example. There was 56 free kicks paid for the entire game.
56!
There was a total of 359 free kicks paid over the entirety of Round 8. In comparison, in Round 8 of the 2019 season, a total of 284 free kicks were awarded. That means there was 75 more free kicks paid this season — an amount made even more staggering considering we are playing almost 20-minutes less each game.
As a Carlton fan, you would think watching your team finally win games of footy would be enjoyable, however, I found myself tuning out of our clash against the Kangaroos, as the game was unbearable to watch at times due to how many free kicks were being paid. Umpires are over-officiating and are searching for free kicks at every point of the game. Play should be allowed to flow throughout the entirety of the match, and when an obvious free kick is there to be paid — pay it.
Umpires have been encouraged by the AFL to pick out minuscule and inessential free kicks in the hope of opening up the game. Players are confused, fans are becoming frustrated and the state of the game is declining with every new rule that is being introduced.
This isn’t an attack on umpires, they are only officiation the game as they are told to. This is a plead to the AFL to stop trying to change every aspect of the game. You don’t have to introduce new rules every season because other leagues around the world are doing so.
Let the players play, call the obvious free kicks and the game will take care of itself.
Originally published at https://medium.com on July 28, 2020.
