No rush on new rules: Hocking

AFL football operations manager Steve Hocking has insisted the league won’t rush through controversial new measures to combat congestion in the game, saying some of the proposed changes are not guaranteed for next year.

It comes as at least two more coaches — St Kilda’s Alan Richardson and Richmond’s Damien Hardwick — joined Collingwood’s Nathan Buckley in urging AFL headquarters to extensively trial options before agreeing to significant change to the game.

As debate raged over the possible introduction of starting positions at stoppages, an increase in the kick-in area size and reduced interchange rotations as early as next year, Hocking yesterday moved to allay growing industry fears that things were moving too quickly.

“Let’s understand that we’re not talking potentially of this happening in 2019,” Hocking said on SEN. “It has to go through the competition committee, it’s got to go through the AFL executive, it’s got to get to the commission.

“Having spent 10 months with the commission, they’re super impressive people. There’s no way known on (chairman) Richard Goyder’s watch that he’s just going to pull a lever and go, ‘Right, let all this roll through’.”

Buckley maintained yesterday his concerns centred on the unintended consequences of the proposed changes.

On Wednesday, the Magpies coach said the starting points requiring three players to start inside 50m at a stoppage would be “a blight” on the game.

Yesterday, he was more conciliatory.

“I am pretty confident that the look of the game committee and the people that are making those decisions are actually really conscious of those unintended consequences and are keen to explore them before making any moves,” Buckley said.

He wasn’t miffed Collingwood was one of the clubs yet to have a detailed briefing, saying his immediate focus was on tomorrow’s clash with North Melbourne.

Richardson said trials in lower leagues such as VFL or NEAFL wouldn’t be sufficient.

Hocking said Buckley, along with the other Victorian-based AFL coaches yet to be fully briefed about the changes, will get more clarity in coming weeks.

The AFL plans to conduct further trials and research into the potential changes, with a view to unveil any changes for 2019 in October.