THE AFL will wait until this week’s round of official pre-season matches is played before deciding whether to dial down the strictness of the man on the mark rule.
The league is wrestling with allowing players “minimal lateral movement” as per its initial description of the rule in November or sticking with a black and white adjudication that forces the players to stand statuesque.
AFL decision-makers say the contentious 50m penalty against Fremantle’s Brennan Cox was the correct decision, but are cognisant of the question: As fans of the game is this really what we want to see? In other words, should the punishment better fit the crime?
All of which means the rule club insiders believe will drastically change the look of the game remains in a state of flux a little more than a fortnight out from the start of the season.
The nine practice matches played last week saw more than 2000 instances of a player manning the mark in a stand situation. Of those, only half a dozen resulted in 50m penalties, proving the players have adjusted quickly.
It is a black and white rule in a grey game, and while confident the players will continue to adapt, the AFL is aware a sprinkling of incidents such as the Cox 50m will be hotly debated and often ridiculed.
The Dockers are of the understanding Cox was penalised because he turned his back on the kicker, a tactic that was raised in league-club meetings over summer.
The AFL has told clubs this isn’t outlawed – and players on the mark are also permitted to jump up and down on the same spot - but it has told them it doesn’t want the man on the mark turning his back.
Some teams had started to keep statistics on how aggressively its players manned the mark and had even compiled data on how a good man-making game affected their chances, in percentage terms, of winning a game.
It is why many club officials now believe the rule will open up our game more than any other rule the AFL has introduced in recent history.