Grundy coaxed GWS counterpart Nick Madden into \u2018illegally\u2019 crossing the centre-circle line \u2014 which ruckmen are forbidden to do under the newly-introduced rules \u2014 resulting in a free kick to the star Swan. <\/p>\n
Last week, Swann said the league hadn\u2019t anticipated players exploiting the new ruck rules in the clever manner Grundy did. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s probably one we didn\u2019t contemplate, but anyway, we\u2019ll have a look at it and see where we go,\u201d Swann told SEN Breakfast last Friday. <\/p>\n
Well, unfortunately for Grundy, that loophole has been officially closed by Swann and the AFL brains trust. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve looked at that, and he (Grundy) got a free for that (last week), but there wouldn\u2019t be a free (going forward),\u201d Swann confirmed on AFL 360 on Monday night. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf you don\u2019t jump, and you want to \u2026 (do) the stooging, you can stooge, but it\u2019ll be play on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Co-host Garry Lyon said: \u201cSo, that\u2019s like a false inducement. It\u2019s like (with) stand-on-the-mark \u2014 if you go the fake handball, and they go off the line, you\u2019re not going to pay it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Swann responded: \u201cThat\u2019s right. So, that\u2019ll go out today saying that\u2019s play on.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to not being able to cross the centre-circle line, ruckmen now cannot engage with opposition rucks. And around the ground, play will now restart without a nominated ruckman. <\/p>\n
And speaking of ruck contests, Swann conceded knee injuries as a result of ruckmen jumping at each other would simply be an unwanted consequence of the new rules. <\/p>\n
It comes after Geelong\u2019s Shannon Neale was hurt in a knee-on-knee collision with Carlton\u2019s Marc Pittonet last Wednesday. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think you\u2019d be naive to say it\u2019s not going to happen \u2014 it\u2019ll happen,\u201d he acknowledged. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf there was a pandemic of them, you might change it back \u2026 it\u2019s going to happen. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe unintended consequences from a good perspective is scores out of the centre bounces have gone up. It\u2019s a very small sample size, but the things that we wanted \u2014 the game length has gone back, the scoring has gone up, scoring from centre bounces has gone up, so we\u2019re hopeful that goes into the season proper as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Aside from the game\u2019s new rules and adjudications, Swann was probed by Gerard Whateley on West Coast\u2019s lack of competitiveness in its heavy Community Series loss to Port Adelaide. <\/p>\n
\u201cI did watch a bit of that game \u2014 I mean, maybe we haven\u2019t given Port much credit; they were very sharp,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always difficult at this time of year with pre-season and how hard people have been training; what the build-up has been. <\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know. It was a beautiful day for it, so the skill level probably was a little bit questionable early, then they got going a little bit, and then they dropped off again. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut pre-season is always hard to measure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Finally, Swann was asked about the NRL\u2019s season kick-off in Las Vegas and whether he felt any jealously towards the way Peter V\u2019landys and his mob are going about things. <\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t watch it (the NRL season opener); I was watching the two of our games \u2026 I didn\u2019t see it,\u201d Swann told Fox Footy. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not right (V\u2019landys claiming that NRL is number one in Australia), so that\u2019s the thing that probably peeves you a little bit. We\u2019re the biggest game, we\u2019ve got the most participants, most people watched, most attendees, so there\u2019s a bit of poetic licence there. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut to be honest, he spends a lot of time talking about the AFL, but we don\u2019t spend a lot of time worrying about him. <\/p>\n
\u201cAll we\u2019re trying to do is make the game better, and do all those things that we said \u2026 we\u2019re OK, they\u2019re going well, but we don\u2019t worry too much about what they\u2019re up to.\u201d<\/p>\n