PUSH IN THE BACK RULE!!!

[TOT70]

I thought Gaspar and even Fletcher were a bit stiff with a couple of soft frees, but appart from that I LOVE THE NEW RULE INTERPRETATION!!!

Just look at who is complaining loudest about it, is it James Hird, Pavlich or Fevola? No, it's the big fat cheats like Clement and Archer.

I think that what is touted as a small change is in fact a massive change to the game, but we will now see far more skillful players thrive to the detriment of the old style defenders, who crafted their games on the big shove in the back out of the contest. Or if all else fails bash the guys arms so that you have no contested marks at all.

And then you all *smile* and moan about how nobody kicks to a contest anymore, gee I wonder why?? So the AFL are doing their best to bring back the contested mark and I for one can't wait to see Richo one out in the square with some midget thug like Archer trying to use his inadequate skills to prevent the great man from taking a hanger!!

Absolutely spot on.

Richardson would have been the most exciting player of the last 20 years if the existing rules had been policed correctly during his career.

I was listening to Glenn Jakovich on SEN last week. He talked about how in his day he always knew that if he was caught behind he still had a 50% chance of beating his opponent because he could always whack the arms, wrestle or push his opponent out.

Guys like Peter Knights had the athleticism to jump over the top and outmark their opponent. I'll bet this thought never even crossed his mind!

 

[Inspector]

The rule has not been changed there has always been push in the back it's just a stricter interpretation which I think is good as it takes out the grey area as far as umpires go as soon as any hands go into the back bang free kick!! Simple nothing wrong with learning to use the body the way we were all taught as kids, Jezza's mark no hands in the back & Roach the same players will adapt. I do agree that we should not touch the rules for a while & let the game evolve & only if there are alot of injuries happening change a rule e.g ruck rule & head high rule.

 

[mb64]

Rule makes senses to me.Some coaches just like to complain for the sake of it & make excuses.

 

[Hanno]

Personally, I'd like to see a halt to the tweaks and changes we've seen to the rules over the past few years. Let's just let the game develop with the rules as they are and se what we have. As it is, if the speed of changes and reinterpretation keeps up, we won't be able to gauge the impact of any one change, as another change is piggybacked on to it straight away.

Having said that, I'm really not that fussed with the new interpretation of push in the back. If an AFL defender can't contest without putting his hands in the back of his opponent then they are doing something wrong. By asking the umps to penalise any player who has his hands in the back of an opponent, the AFL have taken out the need for individual umps to decide whether the contact disadvantaged the man in front, and I like that becuse it should (in theory) lead to greater consistency of application.

The thing that bother me about this particular change is the way it came about. From what I have heard (and I may be wrong) it is not a change that came out of the deliberations of the Rules of the Game committee or from any feedback from coaches or players. In fact, from what I understand, it came about as a result of one man's opinion of what made a better spectacle for the fans. That isn't the right way to go about changing rules and interpretations. The AFL should not be one administrator's personal fiefdom.

The rule itself, though, will end up being pretty innocuous. In 18 months' time, defenders will have adjusted (and those unable to adjust will have been moved on). Like most rule changes, the game will go on and take this one in its stride, without any great problems.

 

[tigersnake]

how about bringing the game back to the way it was as opposed to leaving it alone now. A handball should be a handball, not the throws that are allowed today. Holding onto a man before he has the ball isn't allowed. You can use your body but you can't scrag or chop arms. That's the way the game should be played, not like it is today.

Roachy wouldn't have scored half the goals he did if scragging and pushing were allowed in his day.

agree with the first bit baloo, but I reckon Roachy played when there was 1 ump and backmen got way with more. Roachy's one downside was he had no mongrel, he was tough as anyone in terms of copping it, but he never thought to inflict pain on a backman to make 'em think. He was so good he was targetted every game. Today he would have played an extra 50 games and wouldn't have copped being ridden into the ground after a mark like he was, which stuffed his back.

I agree though, there's been a lot of 'rule drift' over the years, where the interpteations change a little bit each year so you don't notice. In the back, throwing, holding the ball, you shouldn't have to make a new rule, just enforce the old one. I agree with mb, tot70s and linus.

Morecroft's mark shouldn't have been paid let alone get mark of the year

 

[B1 and B2]

It doesn't matter what rule they bring in. Poor Richardson will never get those soft free kicks like other forwards... Hopefully he will get more free kicks in a game that he deserves...

B2