Adelaide ruckman Sam Jacobs has proposed a change to the third man up rule in ruck contests, rather than banning it completely.
The AFL is considering banning third men up at ruck contests, given the rise in prevalence of the tactic in recent years, with Geelong and Hawthorn in particular using it to advantage.
However, Jacobs says the league should not ban, but simply allow ruckmen to block the third man at contests.
“It’s important that you can’t just allow players to have a jump into you,” Jacobs said on Thursday.
“I reckon if a third man is going to go up, then I think you should be able to block his run and it not be a free kick.
“I’m a bit of a traditionalist and it’s obviously a tactic that is used against bigger ruckmen or dominating ruckmen, so I wouldn’t like to see it be ruled out altogether. But I think it can definitely be tweaked.”
Jacobs said it is not as big an issue as others believe, stating it is a tactic used predominantly against the taller ruckmen in the game.
"It's more for those bigger guys like Sandilands or if Nic Naitanui is going well or big Max Gawn," Jacobs said.
"We've seen Jordan Lewis with Hawthorn and the Kangaroos use it a lot in the past.
"Geelong is another team that has started to it a bit more, but it's not really common."
The AFL's laws summit meeting was held in November to discuss several rules of the game, with the third man up rule one of several to be considered for change.
