Hold on a bit, AFL says ball winners are getting fair go

AFL football operations boss Steve Hocking concedes the holding-theball rule is “not perfect” and is striving for consistency in the face of mounting confusion and frustration.

Hocking said the dispersal of umpires across the country had meant the collective coaching of the “genuine attempt’’ rule had been missing, which had created that inconsistency.

Hocking dismissed suggestions the ball winner was being overly penalised and stressed the protection of the ball winner would remain a pillar of the game.

But the ball winner had to try to move the ball on when tackled, he said.

Confusion abounds about the controversial change to clamp down on holding the ball situations, which was a league directive and not, Hocking said, an Alastair Clarkson initiative. “The actual adjustments are going to take time to settle,” Hocking said.

“There’s definitely inconsistencies with it and that’s always an expectation when what you’re trying to do is enforce the ‘genuine attempt’.

“It’s got nothing to do with the prior opportunity, it’s a genuine attempt to move the ball. What we’ve aimed to do is get that decisionmaking right across the umpiring group and that will take time.

“Everyone is searching for perfection in this (game), it doesn’t matter if you’re a coach, a player or an umpire, it just takes time.

“It’s not perfect at the moment and we acknowledge that.”

He stressed the philosophy of the rule clamp down was right and dismissed suggestions players were now waiting for an opponent to take the ball so they could then apply the tackle. “We’re certainly not seeing that at this point in time,’’ he said.

AFL great Leigh Matthews has said he fears for the ball winner in this current environment.

Hocking: “It’s one of the most important elements of the game, people play for that reason, when you’ve got that opportunity for your moment in time to take possession of the ball and take the game on … that’s what the game is.

“Hopefully, what you’re seeing is ‘in your back’ paid a lot more. If you have a look at that, that’s one of the big improvers and no one is talking about that.’’

There’s a marginal increase from 2019 to 2020 in push-in-the-back free kicks, but a drop in the past three rounds.

Hocking said the game needed to clamp down on players gathering the ball and then wanting a stoppage. In recent rounds, the football seems to have been more in motion.

“We don’t want to see players protecting the ball and ball security by being tackled and just having a stoppage created,” he said.

“It’s enforcing the rule of genuine attempt and if there’s no genuine attempt being made. No genuine attempt is in the rule book and that is the rule that is being officiated on. There’s no change in interpretations, it’s just enforcing that rule.”

Hocking also dismissed the notion Hawthorn coach Clarkson initiated the tightening of the rule. He said the AFL had tracked trends over several years and believed the fact the players had been forced to train in groups of nine, had promoted more ball security.

He also stressed players who dragged the ball in needed to get it out. “That hasn’t changed,” he said.