It’s that time of the year again where everyone claims the game is broken and the state of the game chat dominates the media airwaves.
One of the rules constantly mentioned in the media as something that needs to be changed is the backwards kick.
The likes of Malcolm Blight, Matthew Lloyd and more have called for marks not to be paid when the ball is kicked backwards in order to discourage players from doing so.
However, the notion that teams kick backwards too often or that the backwards kick somehow adversely affects the quality of the game is one not backed up by any numbers.
Long time AFL opposition analyst and strategy coach Rob Harding revealed just how often teams do kick backwards and how effective it is for the teams that do it most often.
“To put it in context, this year the average number of kicks in a game is 176 for each team. The average number of backwards kicks is eight,” Harding told SEN Drive.
“So we’re not talking about an enormous percentage of anyone’s kicking. If you look at the top three teams for backwards kicks this year it’s Port Adelaide, who average about 14, Collingwood at 12 and Geelong at 11.
“Those three teams, Port Adelaide is number one for scoring in the AFL, Geelong are number two and Collingwood is number five.
“I think we can get hung up a little bit on the Geelong/Melbourne game which was a boring game of football to watch and there was a lot of kick, mark and slow possession, but a knee-jerk reaction to take away marks from backwards kicks doesn’t really fit with the numbers as you look at them.
“The reason teams (kick backwards) is to open up the fat side of the ground. If I take a backwards switch kick and the whole defensive formation for the defence has to shift, it might open up holes in the corridor or if the opposition doesn’t slide across we can go around and get out the fat side.
“We need to encourage more use of the corridor and more use of the fat side of the ground where the space is. We have the biggest playing field in all of professional sport. We have to use it more.
“So we want to encourage teams to go out to the fat side, not restrict them and force them to kick more down the line.”
Harding also debunked the idea that holding the ball free kicks need to be paid more often by pointing out that they already are.
Also on "rewarding the Tackler" - in the last three years we have paid more regular Holding The Ball free kicks.
— Rob Harding (@robharding21) June 28, 2020
This year every 14.6 Tackles generate a Holding The Ball FK, back in 2014 it was every 24.3 Tackles.
Perhaps quicker to call a ball up + quicker do ball up would help pic.twitter.com/fVm0I8Y4xI
On what he would do to improve the game, Harding looked to an idea already pointed out by Geelong forward Josh Jenkins.
“I’m an advocate for the bonus point idea that Josh Jenkins has floated on Twitter – bonus points for scoring over 100 points per game,” he said.
“I think we need to change the mindset around scoring and I think the flow-on effect of that will be that the game opens up around the ground.”
Aside from that, he believes stoppages around the ground need to be adjusted and he looks to a rule already in place in the AFLW competition.
“I’d also like to see the throw-ins brought in as they are in the AFLW. Bring them in 15 metres to bring the ball back into the corridor,” he said.
“What we’re seeing a lot and in the last 10 years in particular is less and less play through the middle of the ground and more risk-averse play out wide so we need to try and avoid that to get the game back in the corridor in an attacking format.
“One of the things I would do is I certainly want to see quicker ball-ups called. The umpire’s got to be quicker to call it, but also quicker to execute it. By doing that you don’t allow the numbers to creep in and set up at the stoppage as quickly.
“In order to do that you probably have to remove the ruck nomination rule and that allows third-man up. I’d be happy to see (ruck nomination) removed in order to make the ball-ups a bit quicker.”
Listen to the full chat with Rob Harding below