The holding the ball rule is arguably the most frustrating and confusing free kick paid in the game, and still leaves fans and coaches scratching their heads.
AFL umpires have found difficulty identifying what prior opportunity means, and how contests are to be adjudicated. However, those teachings have rarely been clearly explained to supporters.
Speaking on AFL360, former AFL umpire Ray Chamberlain helped explain one perspective on how the game's adjudicators are instructed, and what they look for to determine a free kick.
A "watershed moment" in 2014, Round 16, when Essendon's Mark Baguley wasn't rewarded for a perfect lunging tackle on Port Adelaide's Angus Monfries, which altered the trajectory of holding the ball in the AFL and its subsequent interpretation.
"It was a watershed moment in relation to holding the ball the Monfries decision," Chamberlain said.
"What came of it was a summit. Back in the day, that was a perfectly correct implementation of the law. Prior opportunity and the time that took up, and all the actions, and where we are to, and the seismic shift we've experienced in the game.
"Over the summer, Wayne Campbell was the head of the umpiring department. They had a footy summit. And the primary focus was lets define what prior opportunity actually is. Can we give a literal black and white definition?
"They came up with a few things. They looked at literal actions. A fend, a duck, you play on after a mark... you break one tackle and then straight into the next tackle. That's considered prior opportunity much like if you take a prior option and don't take it.
"And Monfries, the term they use today is to define, literally, is balanced and steady. There's literal actions now that equate to prior opportunity.
"So we've come a long, long way from 2014 in Adelaide to the interpretation. The rule itself has not change. What has changed is the interpretation and how we define what is prior opportunity.
"Tackle has never been more rewarded in the game than in 2026. I don't think it's a bad thing for the game. The rules themselves underpin promoting the players attacking the footy, which is why prior opportunity, in my opinion, is the best law in the game."
Gold Coast coach Damien Hardwick is one who has lamented at the inconsistencies of the rule, saying it's like "chook lotto".
The Suns escaped an inspired Essendon outfit earlier in the year, but Hardwick was baffled by some of the calls
"The holding ball rule is like chook lotto. I sit there and don't know half the time what's going to happen," he said in April.
"A guy with an arm pinned, waiting for the ball to be called for a stoppage or the other option is a dump tackle. Just blow the whistle.
"It's like we've completely gone away from secondary stoppages because we think it kills the game.
"At least be consistent in your interpretation throughout the whole game."
