Rule victory for fans

THE biggest blight on the AFL has finally been eradicated.

It might have taken five years longer than common sense dictated, and been slipped out under cover of darkness, but it is finally here.

Footy fans don’t love congested stoppages and could do without low scoring and the lack of high marks in the modern game.

What they detest is the knee- dropper, the ducker and the shrugger, the player who goes searching for contact to draw high free kicks.

Finally, the league has acted to ensure players who commit those actions will not be rewarded with free kicks. And, rest assured, a tighter interpretation is already having an effect at AFL training grounds across Australia.

Joel Selwood has carried the can for that footballing sin, correctly stating he would carry on doing it until the league changed the rules.

But while we grimaced when it happened, his brazen attack on the footy and courageous play meant some were prepared to forgive him the single flaw in his game.

Now a new breed of players have entered the game who seem to make it their sole mission to draw high free kicks. The AFL had to act. Brisbane’s Rhys Mathieson won just 113 contested possessions last year and yet was awarded 23 high- contact free kicks in his 11 games.

As a knee dropper and serial shrugger, he was rewarded at a rate of one free kick for every 4.9 contested possessions.

Selwood’s ratio is one every 11.75.

Western Bulldog Toby McLean, Lion Allen Christensen and Hawthorn’s James Sicily had all been skilled at drawing frees for high tackles.

As Ashton Hams and Luke Shuey and a handful of other West Coast players continued to draw high- contact frees a few seasons ago, then umpires’ boss Jeff Gieschen simply told players to tackle better.

It made no sense. What started as a perfect tackle quickly became illegal with a knee drop, shoulder shrug, then head thrown back in feigned agony.

The league announced the crackdown in a shroud of gobbledygook late in December, making reference to reasonable tackles and the player with the ball being more responsible. New umpires’ boss Peter Schwab was much clearer on Friday, making public the changes to which clubs have been alerted.

“If the players’ legitimate attempt to tackle appears to be correct and that the high contact is caused by the player ducking into the tackle, dropping his knees or trying to shrug it off, then it will be a play- on call,” he said. The result? Immediate. Brisbane won’t coach its players not to duck any more, but even at last week’s practice match its serial duckers had stopped the practice.

Why would you, when there is no longer a reward?

Selwood won’t lose too much sleep over the change, just adapt like the champion he is. If a tackler tries to take his head off, he still receives a free kick, and if not, he hits the pack with such force he is still a chance to break free.

Selwood should the change.

Take away the criticism of him as a serial shrugger and it is hard to believe he is anything other than the perfect footballer. welcome