SANFLnut wrote:New skill in the game is now to make sure your kick/handball is partly smothered as it goes out, or even better if you can tap the ball or hand pass it on to an opponents leg and then pick up the free kick.
'Free kick against the last touch... provided it was a
real, proper last touch' does very little to improve the game, and encourages the semi-deliberate fumbler who just can't get a handle on the thing near the boundary line, i.e. the status quo.
Think about it, guys. There are broadly 3 possibilities when your team has the ball and is going forward:
a) If you've got the ball in the clear and free options running everywhere, you'll go down the middle.
b) If things are more marginal and all you have is a free man on the boundary, and you mis-kick it slightly, either it goes OOBOTF (already a free kick) or it lands slightly in front/to the side of them, and they either take possession and play on, or touch it but don't take possession (because pressure is bearing down on them) before paddling it out (still not a free kick).
c) If you have no options and just have to roost it long to a contest down the line, then spoiled/off-hands out of bounds will still not be a free kick.
So: no improvement.
Problem with the game being too congested and too many stoppages? Don't allow players with the ball to accept the tackle; in any case except one where they're jumped on within microseconds of getting it
and make a legitimate attempt, pay holding the ball against them. While SANFL people are justifiably sceptical about AFL-related stuff, and there is a legitimate issue about 'don't punish the guy who's going for the ball', the fact is that a brutal interpretation of the HTB rule worked a treat at minimising repeat stoppages in the AFL. This is silly fiddling around the edges.