Wallace slams new interchange rule

[one-eyed]

Wallace slams bench 'farce'
Jon Pierik | May 18, 2008 12:00am

RICHMOND coach Terry Wallace has launched another scathing attack on the AFL, this time for introducing what he feels is a needless new interchange rule.

Just a fortnight after taking aim at league bosses over antiquated time-keeping measures, Wallace last night claimed the league should have consulted more with clubs before rushing the rule in last week in wake of the 19th man fiasco.

Wallace's unprompted spray came after his Tigers were manhandled by unbeaten Geelong after halftime in a 30-point defeat at a rain-soaked MCG.

At times, the new rule looked farcical as players desperately wanted to return to the field, but were held up by AFL officials as they logged the interchanges.

"I didn't think it was that broken in the first place," Wallace said.

"I would rather see someone come out and say if there is a major indiscretion, we are going to hit that major indiscretion very, very hardly and very, very seriously, rather than impact everyone that wasn't really putting the indiscretion in place."

Wallace said league officials should have spoken with clubs before introducing the rule and questioned its timing.

"I just get disappointed that we sit there and all of a sudden it is just applied," he said.

"We haven't had any opportunity for anyone to discuss it or know whether it's going to work or not.

"I still wonder why we are sitting there with a new system mid-stream.

"I still wonder about the antiquated situation of having to write down numbers. In this sort of world where we have everything else digitally organised, why are we writing numbers?

"It's still a little bit of a concern to us all."

While at one stage Geelong had only 16 men on the field because of a hold-up in paperwork, Cats coach Mark Thompson opted not to criticise the new system.

"Whether it's the right system, I am not sure. Whether it is or not but it's the one we have got and we just have to adapt," he said.

"We made a few blues and there were a few times there where we took the person off and didn't put a person on. It's just a matter of getting our systems right."

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,23715948-19742,00.html

[{X}]

BOMBER  is a sissy

[bluey_21]

This new is absolutely unneeded. Just creates more confusion

[tigersalive]

Yup its crap.

All we need is a system where there is one official at each "gate" and makes sure one comes off for one at a time even if three want to come off at once, might take a tad longer but quicker than having each lodged for what advantage? 

Simple.

[bluey_21]

Yup its crap.

All we need is a system where there is one official at each "gate" and makes sure one comes off for one at a time even if three want to come off at once, might take a tad longer but quicker than having each lodged for what advantage? 

Simple.

Exactly, to be honest I have no idea why interchanging players seems such a difficult task. When I played footy for school it seemed pretty straightforward

[one-eyed]

David King is on 3aw now with Caro talking about this.

Caro couldn't understand the fuss over the interchange. King said the proverbial will hit the fan if a game is lost over a bit of paperwork in a couple of weeks time. It gets messy when a player brings himself off and the paperwork holds up changes and if you have a run with player he has to wait too long for the paperwork to go through before you can get the right match-up. You just can't bring anyone off.

[Obelix]

On the other hand it might be a blessing in disguise.  Coaches might let players stay out on the field and play footy for more than 5 minutes at a time.

[one-eyed]

Miller looks for interchange solutions
richmondfc.com.au
Ben Broad
 1:46 PM Mon 19 May, 2008

RICHMOND football manager Greg Miller says the Tigers will work with the league in coming days to try and come up with a better solution for the AFL’s new interchange system.

The AFL tried out new interchange rules at the weekend but the feedback wasn’t all good, with the Tigers among the most critical.

The new system will officially kick in this week when umpires – alerted to breaches via interchange stewards – will be able to penalise teams who infringe upon the new laws.

Several sides took their time coming to grips with the more methodical system at the weekend, which involves sides writing down each interchange made with a club and AFL steward verifying each swap made on the bench.

“It wasn’t good,” Miller told SEN radio.

 “[But] we can’t just criticise without having some suggestions and that’s something that we’ll do today and I think a few clubs will do the same.”

Miller said that in today’s modern age “there’s got to be a better way” to deal with the interchanges than the new measures.

“We’re using technology all over the place, and here we have little bits of paper and everything to help hold players back … by the jumpers so they don’t go on the ground until the paperwork’s completed”

“I think that common sense will prevail here and we’ll have to have a chance to talk to the AFL about it.”

Miller believes the Tigers and weekend opponent Geelong made several slip-ups on Saturday and says something needs to be done to remedy what could develop into a messy situation in coming weeks.

“The guy who does our work down there [on the bench], Johnny Vickery, he was screaming at the players and I think in the first half I think both clubs would have infringed a few times,” Miller said.

“There would have been a bit of an uproar from the members or supporters watching the game to see the game stopped and penalties given for something as silly as this.”

AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson believes the weekend trial was a success and that that if clubs continued to adapt to the changes there would be no infringements.

But Miller wasn’t so sure.

“Well, for that to happen each club’s going to have to employ another person as a sort of a gatekeeper to stand there and hold the player back,” Miller said.

“Having to wait for paperwork to be handed in and to stand behind a fading yellow line in the rain was a difficult exercise.”

http://www.richmondfc.com.au/Season2007/News/NewsArticle/tabid/6301/Default.aspx?newsId=59824

[one-eyed]

Wallace said we've made a submission to the AFL about the new bench rules. He believes it's unfair to penalise a side with a goal from the square because someone off-field mistakenly writes down a 21 instead of a 12 on a bit of paper. This happened to us on the weekend and it would've cost us a goal. Off-field people shouldn't be affecting what's going on on-field.

[one-eyed]

Tigers unhappy with interchange rules
Katherine Firkin | May 21, 2008 02:31pm

RICHMOND coach Terry Wallace believes that the AFL's new interchange rules are too harsh.

Speaking at the launch of the Dreamtime at the 'G match, Wallace cited an example during last Saturday’s clash against the Cats where an incorrectly completed form would have cost the Tigers a goal if there hadn’t been a moratorium on penalties.

“Our circumstances on the weekend were we would have given away a 50m penalty which would have finished in a goal (because of) somebody writing a 12 and not 21 on a sheet of paper,” he said.

“We had 18 players only on the ground at any one time, they left the areas at exactly the right times, but because it was the wrong number on a sheet of paper we would have had a goal against us.”

Under the new regulations, the team must hand an AFL official a piece of paper each time an interchange occurs. Wallace is concerned this places too much power in the hands of sideline officials.

“I don’t know whether you should have people that are not on the ground affect the work these blokes are doing on the ground and having a impact on matches,” he said.

Wallace said Richmond has submitted its thoughts on the new regulations to the AFL.

“We just believe that there was probably an easier way to organise it providing that there were only 18 players on and that you knew that one player was coming on and off at any one time,” he said.

“We just didn’t believe the paperwork aspect of it was necessary."

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/sport/afl/story/0,27046,23735086-5016169,00.html

[mightytiges]

Another harebrain idea from AA and AD  . LOL using a manual system of post-it notes in a 21st century major sport  . Let's hope this doesn't turn the dreamtime game into a farce like the hands in the back interpretation did last year  .

[cub]

It's quite unbelievable really, isn't it. Makes the people that run the game look like the fools they are, most of the time.

[mightytiges]

I would've thought the simple solution is just to make sure each club has a minimum of 4 players outside the field of play. We're only doing all this nonsense because one dopey club didn't wake up that it only had 3 players on the bench instead of the required 4. Of course that gave Mr Fix-it-if-it-ain't-broke an excuse to have another rule change "fix"  .

[one-eyed]

League to stamp out 'post-it' interchange system
Mike Sheahan | May 28, 2008

THE widely ridiculed system of recording interchange movements on "post-it" notes has been mocked into history.

AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson is expected to announce a more sophisticated system as early as today.

It is believed Anderson will advise clubs the league will adopt the computer system employed by Champion Data, the league's official stats provider.

Anderson said last night he still was reviewing the system that was enforced for the first time last weekend.

"I'm reviewing the procedure from the weekend which, on the whole, operated a lot more cleanly," he said.

"I'm collecting information from the interchange stewards, the clubs and the coaches. I'm not ruling out the possibility of new ways of improving it further."

It is understood AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou called for change after a round of games that produced one embarrassing error (West Coast versus Adelaide) and much derision as zealous interchange stewards patrolled their area and recorded planned interchange movements on "post-it" notes before allowing the change.

At one point in Friday night's MCG game between Geelong and Collingwood, there were seven players off the field as the paperwork was completed.

"While I haven't finalised anything yet, I want to work through the feedback to see if notification in writing is still necessary," Anderson said.

The proposed alternative would have Champion Data log changes by sight - as it has done for media outlets in the past.

The interchange stewards would have immediate access to the data at ground level.

Sydney coach Paul Roos and Richmond coach Terry Wallace had both attacked the need for post-it notes.

"They need to look into the paperwork situation," said Roos after the trial in Round 8.

"You don't see them handing over sheets in the NBA or the NFL. This is the only game in the world where you actually have to hand over a bit of paper before you are allowed on the playing field.

"It's ridiculous that you have to go through so much protocol to get players on and off. All we want is an 18 versus 18 competition."

The changes were brought in after the Swans were found to have 19 players on the field in the dying minutes of the drawn Round 6 game against North Melbourne.

At the same time, Wallace said the "post-it" note system was outdated.

"I still wonder about the antiquated situation of having to write down numbers. In this sort of world where we have everything else digitally organised, why are we writing numbers?

''It's still a little bit of a concern to us all," Wallace said this month.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,23770130-19742,00.html