The thing is, with all the changes, I feel we've been ahead of the game.
Everyone thought we would be hurt by the increased kickout distance as it would hurt our forward half game. Last season I think we were one of the best at scoring from our back half. Shorty and Bakes are key to this. I think the further increased kickout distance will also benefit those guys. We are thought of in the industry as a poor kicking team. They get sucked into our gameplay in that we keep it moving by hand, means that we don't trust out kicking. I actually think thats wrong. Dusty is probably the best kick in the game, add in players like Short and Bakes who are 2 of the best kicks in the game.
The tall forward change, we were already recruiting Lynch at this point.
We have been ahead of the game for any of these rule changes, and I'd hasten a guess that the man on the mark rule will also benefit us. We have smart footballers and smart coaches who will take advantage of these rules to our advantage.
One of my great joys in watching our team play the last four years is that we rarely miss targets by foot, at least it goes to a contest. yeah we do run out by hand and then can usually spot up a player with a kick.
I remember the bad old days, kicking the ball regularly to the oppo. Just doesn't seem to happen these days.