Luke Beveridge has traced the issues with the adjudication of holding the ball back to 2017, following his side’s 2016 Grand Final win.
The Western Bulldogs coach believes teams “whinged” about how the Dogs were getting rid of the ball as their handball game came to fruition in the latter part of the year.
“Unfortunately it became blurry after 2016 when a couple of clubs whinged about us and they tried to pay more free kicks and then by Round 3 they knew it wasn’t working so they tried to go back to what it was,” Beveridge told reporters on Tuesday.
“It’s just an example of flinching on the run.”
Beveridge would like to see holding the ball simplified to make life easier for the umpires.
“Let’s just get back to prior opportunity and incorrect disposal and give the umpires a chance,” he said.
“It’s still going to be hard, the game has probably never been quicker. Sometimes it’s hard to work out whether a player has had prior opportunity. He picks it up, there’s a split second, gets tackled, and if they deem they’ve been dispossessed before their prior then it’s play-on. It’s just a really fine line.
“I get why the umpires find it hard in certain circumstances, but just keep it simple for them and it’ll give them every chance.”
The Western Bulldogs host St Kilda at Marvel Stadium on Saturday night.
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