the AFL introduced a stricter interpretation of the rule regarding a genuine attempt to dispose of the ball<\/a>, and also a harsher interpretation on players who dive on or drag the footy under their bodies.<\/p>\nPlayers have taken some time to adapt to these new interpretations, resulting in a sharp decrease in stoppages and a small increase in free kicks in round one.<\/p>\n
In 2024, there was an average of 67 stoppages per game, a number that fell to 45 per game across the weekend, a drop of close to 33 per cent.<\/p>\n
There was also an average of 18.9 free kicks per game in round one compared to 16.6 per game last year.<\/p>\n
Although a small sample size, it is evidence that the new interpretations are having an impact.<\/p>\n
Coaches have been broadly supportive of the shift, acknowledging its intention to create more free-flowing football.<\/p>\n
“I’ve been a big supporter of it,” Melbourne coach Mick Stinear said following his side’s 48-point win over the Western Bulldogs on Saturday night.<\/p>\n
“Probably early on (against the Bulldogs) there wasn’t a lot of stoppages, so the game was moving pretty quickly, but that’s what we want. That’s a good thing.<\/p>\n
“Probably the players adjusting to that and I think as long as, and from what I’ve seen, the umpires are umpiring it really consistently, players are smart, they adjust and adapt.<\/p>\n
“The first couple of rounds might take everyone a little while just to find the rhythm of it. But I think for the flow of the game and where we want to head, I think it’s a good thing.”<\/p>\n
The only issue for coaches has been ensuring players aren’t sacrificing their hunt for the ball for fear of giving away a free kick.<\/p>\n
“My only concern around the holding the ball is we’re making sure we reward the person who’s trying to win the ball,” Carlton coach Mathew Buck said on Thursday evening.<\/p>\n
“You don’t want to get to a point where you don’t want to win the ball because you know if you get the tackle you’ll get (called for) holding the ball. I thought maybe there was a couple of those tonight.<\/p>\n
“But overall, I was pretty happy with the adjudication. There’ll be some balance with it, for sure, and the umpires have got to get used to it with that interpretation as well.<\/p>\n
“I’m confident that if we can get it right, it will speed up the game, less stoppages in the game, make it a bit more of a transition (and) ball movement kind of game, which we’re up for.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It’s a small sample size, but early indications are the AFLW will be more free-flowing this season Jasmine…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":78221,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85,83],"class_list":["post-78220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports","tag-text"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}