The AFL has introduced many new rules over the past few years to help make the game faster and more entertaining for the fans.
While some changes have improved the game, others have made it confusing and matches at times, difficult to watch.
Last weekend, in Round 16, there were numerous instances of confusing free kicks given and it was overall a very bland round of footy.
Because of this, I have decided to list some of the AFL's rules, especially the ones brought in this year, and rank them in three categories: Red light (needs to go!), green light (yes, can stay) and amber (caution/needs a tweak).
Stand rule
The stand rule could be one of the most confusing rules in the AFL right now, not only for fans, but also players.
To put the rule simply, every time a mark or free kick is given the defender closest to the player needs to stand on the mark. Sounds simple enough right? Wrong.
This rule has come under fire from the whole of the AFL world for many reasons. Players are sometimes seen standing behind or to the left or right of where the mark actually is as well as multiple players standing the mark at the same time.
It looks bizarre. Umpires yell stand either once or multiple times to give the player an opportunity but award 50m penalties at their own discretion inconsistently anyway. When a whistle blows in games this year, it's often hard to know what will be paid.
At the end of the day, all the AFL and umpires need is to use some common sense and realise that players taking one tiny step either way does not impact the game at all and go back to the normal man on the mark.
Verdict: Red
