SEN commentator and AFL journalist Gerard Whateley has revealed which new rule he understands will be implemented in time for the 2019 AFL season.
Whateley recently spoke to Steve Hocking and was part of the AFL's new look of the game committee, who were brought together to try to enhance the quality of the play.
The journalist spoke on SEN's Crunch Time on Saturday morning, and believes a simple yet effective change to the goal square should see a different in every contest.
"This is the one thing I think will happen, we're going to see a bigger goal square," Whateley told SEN's Crunch Time.
"You're twice as likely to score from a kick in, so moving the goal square out to 18 yards, you're more likely to clear the volatile space."
After speaking with a number of the game's greatest players during the meeting, Whateley understood the committee wasn't about changing the game back to the good old days, but instead was looking at how they could improve the current model.
“So the mantra is how do we break the game back open?” Whateley added.
“There’s a couple of guiding principles and these are really important. The changes have to be progressive, they are not trying to return the game to something it’s been in the past.
“They must fit with the current charter of the game – so it takes off the table, there will be no zones, no 16 players a side, there’ll be no bonus point for 100 points, that isn’t allowed within the charter.
“And finally it must honour the heritage of the game. So we’re not going to fundamentally move away from what footy has been through the years.
“This group is not a group of free-radicals that are going to change the game to something we don’t recognise, they want the game to be the best that it can be.”
