Kane Cornes believes the AFL has to re-think rule changes that were brought in to increase scoring.
Former AFL football operations boss Steve Hocking brought in a variety of rule including the ‘stand rule’, reduced interchange and the ‘6-6-6 rule’ to increase scoring, but Cornes believes they’re “not working” at the present.
With Hocking taking up the Geelong CEO job prior to next season, Cornes says he would have liked him to stay in his former job due to the significant changes he made to the game.
“Steve Hocking’s leaving after Round 16 after he’s been so aggressive and brought in so many changes,” Cornes said on Nine’s Sunday Footy Show.
“I would have loved for him to have seen this through.
“Now you almost have to chuck these new rules out because they’re not working.
“Teams are really struggling to score and coaches have worked it out.
“Stand rule. Has it worked? No.
“Has (reduced) interchange worked? No. Do we need to lower it further?
“What do we do with the kick in rule? What changes are the new person going to make? The game is in real trouble for scoring.
“If scoring is what the AFL want, they’re not getting it. So what changes will they need to make that happen?”
While Cornes understands why Hocking would take the Geelong job, he thinks his depature leaves the AFL in “no man’s land”.
“I understand it because the Geelong job comes up for the first time in 23 years and you don’t really have a choice. If you want to take it now, you’ve got to take it,” Cornes said.
“But when you’re so aggressive and when you’re so instinctive on what you want to with your vision to make the game go a certain way, I think we’re in a bit of a no man’s land now.”
Essendon great Matthew Lloyd believes the next football operations boss needs to take the role with a long-term view of the position.
“Having thought about that I think the person (who gets the job) should have to sign a term,” Lloyd told Cornes.
“The changes he (Hocking) has made and say Brad Scott replaces him, you go from an administrator to a coach, he’ll have different thoughts on how the game should go.
“The way you draft, the way you trade, all relate to these rules.
“Clubs are always trying to make different decisions areound what sort of players they need depending on what the game is.
“I think it was the wrong time for him to leave considering the changes he’s made as well.”
"Now you almost have to chuck all these new rules out because they're not working."@kanecornes believes Steve Hocking should have stuck it out at the AFL as his recent changes haven't managed to increase the scoring.#9AFLSFS | Watch @Channel9 pic.twitter.com/bl5HWGqdks
— Footy on Nine (@FootyonNine) July 11, 2021