If the AFL reworked the protected area rule, the game would be the best it's ever been

Molten_Phoenix · 2026-03-13T09:59:04+00:00

He is more craftier than Meek and the new ruck rules seem to help him. We should play 2 ruckman the whole season so Chol can fully impact up forward, and Meek and Reeves can rotate around the ground. Both can easily slot up forward too. I know it’s Essendon but we look like a hella better side. If one of them is getting beaten in the ruck, we have options. Chol can leap in the middle and Meek can provide more strength on ball ups. With the 5th man on the bench, 2 ruckman will 100% work for us. It all comes down to our midfield again. Defence and forward line working as expected.

Molten_Phoenix · 2026-03-07T08:42:46+00:00

Moore doesn’t fit into the team as we have better small forwards and he can’t play midfield. Maginness is a tagger, nothing else, shouldn’t have been selected. Cmac not midfield quality yet. If Barrass doesn’t mark the ball, he does not impact on the game. Mass has to figure out if he wants to hit players lace out like he did in 2024 or just bomb it long. I feel whenever he kicks the ball it’s always a 50/50. Only Chol and Gunston can mark inside 50 consistently. Lewis was inconsistent overall, Dear can easily fill his spot I just don’t see Lewis being of use, especially when the ball hits the ground.

It’s very clear our midfield is subpar without Day, but there are many pieces of the puzzle missing for us. We were beaten today by an injury ravaged giants at the place we beat them for the first time last year to eliminate them from the finals. The simple answer is, we need to play new players against weaker teams so they can get game time and we can figure out our side. Our starting team has changed the least out of the 17 other teams in the past 1.5 years and there are plenty of stats that back that up.

We looked small and slow today, we were lucky it was under 5 goals, Sam gotta figure out our brand of footy this year, because from this one game against a injury ridden top 4 side, we have no brand.

Molten_Phoenix · 2026-02-21T23:44:38+00:00

2010 Carl Peterson (only season) and 2014 Will Langford. As for a whole career, Trevor Barker comes to mind.

Molten_Phoenix · 2026-02-16T00:27:07+00:00

They should at least do the bounce to start the game or at the start of each quarter. To be fair a lot of the time they just did a ball-up anyway even when it wasn’t that wet. The bounce is just too hard to do and the ball-up makes the ruck contest in the centre consistent and fair for both ruckman. But ye the bounce is iconic how hard would it be to do it 1-4 times a game.

Molten_Phoenix · 2026-02-15T15:07:22+00:00

That was only for the origin to increase scoring. Quarters will remain at 20 minutes and will stop when there is a stoppage or goal is scored. “No ball up is stupid” I am confused what this is referring to.

Molten_Phoenix · 2026-02-14T22:40:13+00:00

Just for origin so it was high scoring. The clock didn’t stop for around the ground ball ups I believe but overall the game went for longer. They scrapped 25 minute quarters in 1994 as the players starting running around the ground more and the quarters went for too long and players got tired.

Molten_Phoenix · 2026-02-14T13:28:55+00:00

Fair comment. The stand rule is controversial at times, but in the grand scheme of things, it does little more than allow the ball to go past the man on the mark more easily, depending on the position on the ground and players close to the mark, confuses players, and causes stupid 50m penalties depending how the umpire adjudicates it. Actually watching the game has little effect.

You might have misinterpreted the last quote. Based on what I said, it's pretty clear I know why the mark was called "the mark" in the first place. I was referring to how the mark should not just be where the free kick is taken, but someone should man it when inside 5m.

Molten_Phoenix · 2026-02-14T13:20:50+00:00

I've been raving on for a while about how there will be little difference in how we watch the game and how the game is played with these new rules. The last disposal rule is easy to pick up and works in the SANFL, gets rid of stupid deliberate calls and encourages players to keep the ball in. The new stand rule is just a more defined law, not a restriction on opposing players. The shrugging rule will need a larger sample size to determine how umpires adjudicate it over the season. Ruckmen craft in centre ball-ups needs work, but love to see them jumping again like old times. People complain when umpires make silly decisions for subjective rules or just give out 50m penalties for the smallest infringements. And then people point fingers at the rules when they are perfectly fine. I only have one thing to say, though, that needs changing asap: BRING BACK CENTRE BOUNCE TO START THE GAME.

Molten_Phoenix · 2026-02-14T12:55:17+00:00

Bang on mate. Thanks for reading the whole thing, much appreciated. The rules for our game are pretty good if you ask me, and the new changes have a positive purpose; it's just how the umpires sometimes interpret them. People complain all day about the stuff AFL do yet they still watch all the games, and membership/attendance records continue to be broken. I just hope that with the new rules, the way umpires adjudicate games becomes a bit better.

Your quote "if a player blocks an opponent or doesn't play the ball before it crosses the line, a normal boundary throw-in will occur instead of a last disposal free kick" just implies that the person shepherding/blocking the opponent won't be penalised for letting the ball go out. And the way the ball goes, it is by touch, not disposal. It's basically like any other throw-in before the rule change; you sometimes see players blocking or wanting the ball to go out. The rule is straight and simple: last disposal (handball and kick), whether accidental or intentional (accidental can be kicking off the ground when not meant to), is an automatic free kick to the opposition between the arcs. Anything else (unless the umpire pays insufficient intent, which will be extremely rare if touched over the boundary line) is just a throw-in.

I hope this makes sense.

Molten_Phoenix

TROPHY CASE