Hardwick warns AFL on changes

AFL: “Be careful what you wish for” – that may be sage advice from Richmond premiership coach Damien Hardwick amid an avalanche of discussion around the AFL’s mission to rid the game of congestion close to goal.

If AFL rule-maker Steve Hocking thinks the vote can be swung in City Hall’s favour by briefing the six Victorian coaches yet to be brought up to speed on the proposed changes, then the football operations boss may have another thing coming.

Hocking wants to “increase the bubble” by implementing changes that include starting positions at stoppages and returning the goal square to its former 18m glory – circa 1860s.

The aim is to create space, make it easier for teams to move the ball and, ultimately, kick bigger scores, but as far as Hardwick is concerned the “bubble” has burst.

After clipping some questions off the pads and to the boundary, the premiership coach vented his frustration yesterday about the war on congestion.

“You got to be careful what you wish for,” he said. “If you want to see more goals we’re going to see more blowouts, so be very careful about how we structure things up.

“We value as coaches three facets of the game: offence, defence and contest – and if we want to establish one phase ... more than the others then the better sides are going to get better.

“I’m all for the progression of the game and what that looks like, but we’ve also got a very, very good competition at the moment.

“We’re at round 18 and there’s a lot of sides vying for top eight and top four spots, so we got to be careful which way we go.”