AS THE fallout continues from AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan’s revelation the league is considering trialling rule changes this season, an awkward hypocrisy has come to light on several fronts.
The game is dealing with an image problem as fans, commentators and past and present players lament the deteriorating spectacle caused by defensive tactics and congestion around the ball.
As a result, the AFL is pondering at least six rule changes to make the game flow better, including mandating players start in specific zones from centre bounces.
McLachlan’s announcement, which Channel 7 chief AFL reporter Mark Stevens said on Triple M was a “bombshell”, was met with widespread condemnation as footy greats crucified the call for damaging the integrity of the game.
Read: Legends explode as footy boss drops a bomb
But any decision to trial new rules this season in games which McLachlan assured people would have no bearing on the top eight would force the league into an awkward spot after it promised earlier this year changes would never again be implemented mid-season.
After the first meeting of the Competition Committee in May, Football Operations boss Steve Hocking said any new rules would always be finalised by October to give clubs enough time in the off-season to adapt.
“Any changes to the game moving forward, we’ll actually look at delivering that to clubs and fans (and) the broader competition by October,” Hocking said. “We’re moving away from rules changes or any changes to the game in January or February of a new season. We’ve given that commitment today.”
Herald Sun chief football writer Mark Robinson pointed out the uncomfortable shift on Twitter.
While the AFL has assured the footy world any possible rule changes will only be implemented in matches between teams low down on the ladder so the finals race isn’t affected, several greats said it demeaned the sport by suggesting some games are less important than others.
Many pointed out even if the changes didn’t affect top eight sides, they could have an impact on the Coleman Medal outcome, Brownlow Medal votes and the draft order.
The implication some games are less important than others flies in the face of a Fox Footy TV commercial from a couple of years ago where AFL coaches were asked to point out the fixtures in the upcoming season that didn’t matter.
All of them were perplexed by the directive, claiming every game mattered.
Among those incensed by McLachlan’s announcement was former Melbourne skipper Brad Green, who vented his outrage on Twitter before elaborating on his disgust on radio.
Green was part of the 2009 Demons side which was found guilty of tanking in order to improve its position at the draft. The penalty was announced in 2013 and resulted in a $ 500,000 fine and coach Dean Bailey copping a 16-week ban.
Bailey denied any involvement in cheating but according to the book Breakfast With Bails by former Adelaide leadership consultant Pat Steinfort, he accepted his suspension when he was threatened with a life ban. Bailey died from lung cancer in 2014 and Herald Sun football reporter Jon Ralph tweeted on Thursday the former Dees coach believed the stress over the tanking investigation contributed to his ill-health.
That goes some way towards explaining why Green was so disgusted with the AFL’s claim it was open to tinkering with the rules. He claimed it would result in the same sort of disruption to the game’s integrity that the governing body pinged Melbourne for when it found it guilty of tanking.
“While I was thinking about this, Dean Bailey was certainly crucified through that period of the Melbourne era,” Green said on SEN’s Time On program with Sam McClure. “Why have an investigation, why question what supposedly Dean and the Melbourne Football Club did?
“The Melbourne Football Club should send the AFL a ‘please explain’ if it did happen. Why shouldn’t they?
“I thought Dean Bailey just got hung out to dry.
“He was coaching a team that was certainly struggling and no doubt people and teams used to put people out for surgery to get ready for pre-season, teams used to trial players in different positions, teams were trialling different game plans if they couldn’t make the finals.
“It happened all the time. To come out and put the sole thing on the Melbourne Football Club and Dean Bailey I think was far-fetched.”
Green also said he didn’t believe players or fans would be able to take the game seriously if the new rules were introduced.
“They might as well stop the draft order with three rounds to go, they may as well stop the Brownlow Medal,” Green said. “They’re talking up Patrick Cripps winning the Brownlow, but how does that affect Carlton if they’re playing in one of these trial games?
“Even the players themselves, how are they going to play in the game knowing they aren’t playing for anything? They’re playing as guinea pigs to go out there and see whether they can bring these rules in.
“I don’t even think the players will take it seriously, are people going to turn up to a game and watch a trial?
“It has massive implications on everything on what we call the greatest game on earth.”
Former Sydney and Melbourne coach Paul Roos was also flabbergasted by McLachlan’s announcement.
“It’s completely contradictory to what the AFL has stood for over the past 100 years,” he said on Triple M. “It would be an enormous change to not only the integrity … I’m just speechless.”
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