It was only a matter of time until footy’s most talked-about new rule change took centre stage and as Thursday night's season-opener teetered in the second quarter, Carlton’s Sam Petrevski-Seton was the unlucky recipient of the first 50 metre penalty as a result of the stand rule.
As Petrevski-Seton looked to cut off space in the corridor, he took a small step to his right in an attempt to block Josh Caddy and that was enough to see the Tigers forward handed an early goal.
Richmond leads by 11 points at half time.
It didn’t take long for social media to react:
Since we can make rules changes very quickly in our game. Man on the mark rule, east west movement equals 50, north south doesn’t matter. It’s about opening up 45’s. Common sense please
— Scott Pendlebury (@SP_10) March 18, 2021
The stand rule, as expected, looked good on paper and sounded great in theory but in practice is very very bad. I'm shocked, surprised, stunned and stupefied -- who could have possibly seen that coming #AFLTigersBlues
— Vince Rugari (@VinceRugari) March 18, 2021
This stand on the mark rule is criminal. I get the premise about opening the game up but it adds zero when the penalty is so severe. #AFL #AFLTigersBlues
— Adrian Houghton (@adrianjhoughton) March 18, 2021
Worst rule in the AFL?
— Kane Cornes (@kanecornes) March 18, 2021
