King: The AFL rule change that "will drive Cornes insane"

It’s been a busy off season for David King who has spent as much time as possible attending various club training sessions to get a peripheral view on what the flow of footy might look like in 2026.

In November, the AFL announced seven rule changes for the forthcoming season, with a view to cut ‘dead time’.

Asked by Kane Cornes on the first edition of Fireball of the year what he had observed and what changes he has seen to the flow of the game, King said there was one thing in particular he had seen that “will drive Cornes insane”.

“Everything is fast and everything is frantic,” he said. “One thing you’re going to see, the umpires have a real desire to pay 50m penalties, you will see 1,000 of them, it will be overs.

“In isolation it’s not that hard of an instruction. I’m trying to let you know, there is no 'feel'. I don’t think it will dissipate if this is going to be one of Swanny’s (Greg Swann) items to get right. The two channels to protect are alongside the man on the mark.

“I don’t necessary love or dislike the rule, but it does help with ball movement. Every time they have a match simulation, there are five or six 50s every time, you’re going to hate it.

“The 50 is going to drive you insane for the first six weeks.”

Cornes did not disagree with his co-host’s take, predicting the rule will be relaxed later in the season, thus exposing inconsistencies and prompting fan backlash.

“We’re talking you shuffle your feet and bang,” Cornes said. “I’m gonna lose my mind. We saw the ladder 1-12 and how tight it was; this (rule) will cost someone an early game.

“Then they will relax it, the fans will lose their minds, like when they tried to crack down on dissent. What they penalise in round 18 will be more relaxed than the start. I am going to hate it.”

The King switched to what he deems to be potentially the biggest question mark of the upcoming season.

“The biggest grey area in 2026 is what to do with your ruckmen,” he continued. “They’re not going to be able to get there for a boundary throw…we’ve waited 230 seconds for them on occasion.

“The disaster is trying to get the ruckman there for it and having them caught in the middle. Neither defending nor competing. So, who can cover the ground?

“You have to make a decision. I think it will send the ruckman behind the footy like a pseudo centre-half back, Gary Dempsey style.

“How you use your ruck, if he is the prototypical ruck, it might be a makeshift guy. The centre bounce discussion is a beauty. Some ruckmen are providing pure silver service. TDK to Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera is game over. That excites me.

“Hawthorn are trialling two ruckmen because of the extra position on the bench.”

So are the changes bringing about positive alterations to the game?

“I just like the fact they’re going down this path and trying to create ball movement and maybe get the game back closer to where it was,” King concluded.

“I think the game got over coached for a decade. Players have wrestled back control. The 50s? You’re gonna hate them, I like the idea of it, but you’re gonna hate them.”