The AFL has announced that they have consulted with all 18 clubs regarding several amendments to the rules of the game ahead of the 2024 season.
As announced by the league on Tuesday afternoon, the amendments have been made to the AFL Laws of the Game, AFL Tribunal Guidelines and AFL Regulations and Rules, with clubs and the AFL Player's Association engaged for feedback.
Although substitute players will remain a fixture throughout the 2024 season, how these players will be named at selection is set to differ, with the league announcing that, "clubs will now name an extended interchange bench of five players and three emergency players."
In a bid to make the game safer, clear changes have also been made to laws and tribunal guidelines relating to smothers, run-down tackles and striking.
Players that opt to leave the ground to smother, ala Collingwood's Brayden Maynard on Demon Angus Brayshaw, can expect to face harsh penalties this season, with the league writing:
"In circumstances where a player elects to leave the groundโฏ in an attempt to smother the football, any reasonably foreseeable high contact with an opponent that is at least Low Impact will be deemed to be Careless at a minimum, unless the player has taken all reasonable steps to avoid that high contact and/or minimise the force of that high contact (for example, by adopting a body position that minimises the force of the high contact)."
Tacklers that apply force when completing tackles from behind can also expect to catch the Match Review Officer's eye.
"An area of concern in 2023 was instances of run-down tackles where the tackling player significantly contributed to the force with which the tackled player is driven to ground that were not sanctioned. The AFL has amended the Guidelines to state that there may be types of run-down tackles that are dangerous and which constitute a Reportable Offence (i.e. run down tackles where the tackled player is driven into the ground with excessive force)," the league added.
The following was also offered on more stringent striking regulations:
"In addition, the guidelines for the grading of striking have been strengthened to increase the onus on players to not commit a strike even when seeking to fend and push their opponent. In instances where a player intends to forcefully push or fend an opposition player off the ball (including to gain separation for the purpose of contesting the ball) and the effect is that the player โstrikesโ their opponent, the strike will usually be graded as Intentional rather than Careless."
In an effort to save time for the tribunal, players who are deemed to have caused severe impact can now enter early guilty pleas to avoid sitting before the panel.
Elsewhere, straight-arm blocks will now be allowed at ruck contests, so long as the player applying the block still goes on to contest the ball.
And, most amusingly, players and coaches will no longer be permitted to whistle from the interchange bench area, with the league stating that "this change is a result of excessive whistling from club officials on the interchange bench."
The 2024 AFL season is set to commence when Melbourne travels to face Sydney at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Thursday, March 7, kickstarting the league's inaugural Opening Round.
