Football boss Greg Swann addresses shot clock concerns, ruck tactics and goal-line officiating
Greg Swann has said referees will be tackling missed push-from-behind free kicks in the coming weeks and also revealed new high-tech cameras will be arriving in August to improve the decision-making capabilities of the league’s review centre.
In a wide-ranging radio interview on Wednesday morning, the AFL football boss touched on all things refereeing, saying match referees made decisions to a high standard but, like players and coaches, were prone to making mistakes.
Swann admitted it was a goalscoring error that cost Ollie Dempsey a goal in Geelong’s four-point defeat to Carlton in round 12, while confirming Hawthorn’s Mitch Lewis should have been awarded a goal square in the final minutes of their six-point defeat to the Western Bulldogs last Friday.
“It was a sign and they [the umpires] Swann admitted in a statement to SEN that they had misunderstood this.
But Swann dismissed criticism that the league has imposed rules on the run.
He said the AFL meets with the referee department every Monday to identify trends and make corrections.
“When people say there is a rule of the week, there really is no such thing,” he said.
The former Brisbane Lions chief executive, who moved to the league headquarters this year, said the game was in good health, with scores increasing, stoppages fewer and three minutes removed from matches.
He said the league plans to maintain the four-referee system and will send a mid-year update to clubs next Monday.
Here are the key points he touched on.
Milking the shot clock
Essendon fans were outraged after Carlton striker Harry McKay claimed he fired a shot at goal from outside the 50-metre arc at the MCG on Sunday and guided the ball into the top of the goal square after wiping 49 seconds off the clock.
“The direction is that if they [the players] “Say, they have 30 seconds, then after 30 seconds they have to start coming in,” Swann said.
“Our view was that Harry started coming in at 29 seconds.
“He took his time walking, I think he got up to 40 or 41, so he probably should have hurried a bit at that stage. But that’s at the referee’s discretion.”
Swann said he sympathized with the referees at that moment because a player like McKay could shoot 60 meters towards goal.
“It’s hard to have a hard and fast rule. This is the first rule that we’ve obviously implemented this year, so we’re not jumping into the shadows right now, we’re not going to change it, but it needs to be monitored,” he said.
ruck rule
Swann said the league doesn’t want to reward the gunner who avoids a cross-ball delivery that would cause the opponent to jump early and award a free kick for crossing the line.
“Credit to Brodie Grundy, he’s probably the best in the business,” Swann said.
“But it’s still smart. It’s just, ‘What can I do, what can’t I do, what can I get away with?’ he says. … but we’re not that keen on rewarding the person who swings the bat. So if you kind of jump and the other guy doesn’t, we try not to pay those free kicks.”
Lasso rule
Swann said umpires award an average of four strikes per game for the out-of-bounds final shot rule between 50-yard arcs.
“In our analysis there’s probably 80 percent of skill errors and 20 percent of those types of accidents… it ricochets off someone’s shin or comes off the back of the heel,” he said.
“The way we determined it was if you’re in the goal square and it’s a goal, then around the boundary we’ll determine it that way. So if it comes off the back of your foot, your heel or your shin, it’s a goal. So we’re working on the same basis.” [for last disposal].
“We think the lasso works really well. We’ll continue to monitor it, but that’s what we’re looking for right now.”
kick over the mark
Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell criticized the referees for disallowing Nick Watson’s goal in their win over Adelaide because the small forward was off his line when taking a shot after the siren.
Mitchell said Watson’s arc moved him closer to the boundary line and did not improve his angle.
However, Swann said the players should kick the man on the mark.
“Because someone is shooting at goal, the guy in goal needs to have the opportunity to touch the ball,” he said. “That’s going to be the overriding rule against the ‘You’re not allowed to improve your angle’ rule.”
“If you hit the ball in an arc, you increase your opportunity and get around the target man.”
Swann said players can start the game from directly outside the line as long as they kick the man on the mark.
“We’re all talking about ‘Buddy’ [Lance Franklin] rule. Buddy may start two or three meters to his right and runs in an arc but kicks the target man. That’s okay.
ARC
Swann said the ARC did not have time to overrule a decision that cost Geelong’s Ollie Dempsey a goal against Carlton, even though replays showed the ball had left his shin and should have been treated as a legal kick.
“This decision was mine,” Swann said. “There were two things. So, [goal umpire] David Rodan should have reported the situation to the ARC because he was overthrown.
“But since he didn’t do that, the instruction to the ARC is: ‘If you can explain what happened before the ball is returned in play, say so.'”
It took just five seconds for Blues defender Nick Newman to restart the game, taking two seconds out of the ARC’s decision-making process.
“The instruction was: ‘Don’t bring it back, it’s already engaged,’” Swann said. “So it wasn’t ARC’s fault at that point. The problem was, David should have pointed this out, but he didn’t.”
But Swann expected ARC to have more foresight heading into the finals.
“We’ll be getting some new cameras in August just for the last few games and then we’ll be moving towards faster and better defined finals,” he said.
“They will be able to see much more clearly, much faster, and hopefully that will improve the situation.”
keep the ball
Swann said contentious decisions between fans always led to ball control. But he acknowledged it was difficult for referees to decide whether a player had prior opportunity.
“Even deciding whether to keep something or not [opponent’s] “This arm is holding the ball, but if you tackle and both arms are pinned down, then it’s a ball,” Swann said.
“So these are, ‘How do we clarify this?’ “The gray areas you look at.”
Swann said at the end of the season the league will look at rules that are difficult to arbitrate. “I think it’s a personal situation… If you’re tackled and you try to kick the ball and you don’t kick your foot, in my view that’s tantamount to dropping the ball.”
At the back
Swann said that one point they brought up this week was the push from behind comment.
He said players were allowed to hold their positions while taking signals by placing their hands on the opponent’s back, but some were spared from pushing.
“If it’s a blatant push, do the push from behind,” he said. “Right now it seems like you can do whatever you want as long as you tick.”
News, results and expert analysis from the sports weekend are delivered every Monday. Sign up for our sports newsletter.
