Max Gawn believes the AFL’s new manning the mark rule will impact scoring in 2021.
The rule change stops players from moving side to side on the mark, which could cut off kicking avenues.
Players will be punished with 50-metre penalties for moving too much on the mark.
Gawn said the Demons have had AFL umpires officiating their intra-club matches and believes the man on the mark change will make a big difference.
“The umpires came down to training so we’ve been able to do a fair bit of training with the umpires to officiate the man on the mark the right way,” the All-Australian ruckman told SEN Breakfast.
“It might not sound like a lot, but it is a pretty big deal. Even I can hit inside 45 (degree) kicks with the man not carrying that side of the mark.
“There will be a lot to it and from a defensive point of view you can get a rest on the mark, you don’t have to be working as much as we necessarily did.
“It will be a big thing and it should increase scoring from my point of view from what I’ve seen at training.”
When asked, Gawn added that it may be worth clubs looking into simply leaving the mark unmanned given the new restrictions.
“We haven’t looked into it yet, but I have heard Simon Goodwin slightly mention it where we might look at ways we can work around manning the mark because it’s almost a dead player having that guy on the mark because he can’t move,” he said.
“I’m not sure what the radius is on the mark, but it might be something to look into.”
The rule change was one of three implemented for the 2021 season, along with a reduction of interchange rotations from 90 to 75 and the location of the mark at kick-ins pushed back five metres.