Is last touch out of bounds an inevitability at AFL level?
With insufficient intent free kicks remaining inconsistent across the league and even potentially costing Melbourne a game on the weekend, Kane Cornes believes changing to the black-and-white ruling would be better for everyone involved, particularly umpires.
The SANFL already has this rule in place and SEN SA Breakfast co-host Andrew Hayes feels the AFL would have instituted last touch out of bounds already if the SANFL hadn’t been the ones to go with it first.
“Can we all safely agree that the only reason the AFL adopted the last-touch rule is because it was developed in a minor league, that’s what they would call it, like the SANFL?” Hayes said.
“The SANFL’s onto something that’s effective and the stats would prove it, but the AFL didn’t come up with the idea. Wouldn’t this have saved so many headaches?”
Cornes has come to like the rule and would like to see it in the AFL.
“I was really against it when it first came into the SANFL, I thought it was a bit Mickey Mouse, but the more I’ve seen it and the more ridiculous the interpretation at AFL level has become, the more I think it has to come in,” Cornes said.
“The AFL has been watching it for a while, they’re clearly cracking down on deliberate. Just clear all confusion.
“I’m about making it easier for the umpires and we’ve made it more difficult. This just cuts out all of the confusion, last possession out of bounds.
“I think we’re heading that way.”
The AFLW competition brought in a watered-down version of last touch out of bounds going into its second season, with possession awarded for kicks or handballs that went over the boundary line, but not every touch.
It was then scaled back to only being used between the arcs and not inside 50.