Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson has given his thoughts on the AFL’s rule changes, after seeing them in action for the first time across the last fortnight.
The new ‘stand’ rule coupled with the interchange cap reduction changed the shape of the contest somewhat in the AAMI Community Series and Clarkson believes it has already added speed to the game.
“I think there’s been some other rule changes in the past that have been more driven around protection of players and injuries and concussions with sling tackles and protecting players from PCL injuries in centre bounces and then there’s the slide unders for broken legs, a lot of the changes have come for medical reasons and they’ve been great changes,” the four-time premiership coach told SEN Breakfast.
“I think this one, there’s been some cosmetic changes in terms of the flow of the game, but this is probably the most significant one that’s had such an immediate impact.
“When it’s coupled with the reduction in interchange, watching the St Kilda/Carlton game and also the Richmond/Collingwood game which preceded our game, I just noticed the fatigue in the players later in games, the skill level has dropped off.
“It’s still too early to get a line through it all because players are naturally going to be fatigued with match conditioning in these early rounds of the season and the AAMI Series games, but it’s going to be intriguing to see because the game is going to be more fast paced because of the man on the mark rule, but teams are going to have to change gears because they just can’t sustain it with the lower interchange, they can’t sustain that level for four quarters."
Clarkson added that the increased speed of the game coupled with only 75 rotations will make it tougher for teams to defend leads.
“A five-goal lead nowadays going into the last quarter, normally you could work out ways to hold onto that lead, a five-goal lead is going to be nothing now because the momentum could change very quickly and if your players are fatigued, trying to arrest that momentum will be tough," he said.
“It’s going to be really interesting in terms of the scoring. You’re never going to be out of a game, but having said that, if a team for whatever reason turns its toes up we could see blow outs, and that’s not something the league wants either.
“So we’ve got to watch it carefully, but it’s an intriguing part of the competition, this little era we’re going to go though. It’s clearly a new frontier for the game.
“We’ve battled through a period where defences have been on top in terms of their zoning and protection of the ground and it’s made scoring really difficult, but I think it’s a new frontier in terms of what we’re coming up with now and that’s exciting for the fans, it’s exciting for the players and exciting for us coaches in trying to come up with new ways of coaching and it’s anyone’s guess who’s going to take advantage of these little tweaks they’ve made to the game.”
Hawthorn comfortably defeated North Melbourne at Arden Street Oval on Saturday afternoon.
They now gear up for a clash with Essendon at Marvel Stadium in Round 1.