Here's Benny Gale's full comments on the Stand rule:
Richmond CEO Brendon Gale slams ‘stand’ ruleHeraldSun
8 November 2021Tom Lynch kicked just 35 goals in 2021, and Richmond’s CEO says a decision at AFL House is partly to blame. But he insists the Tigers’ flag window is still open.
Richmond chief executive Brendon Gale says the AFL’s new stand rule will be judged as a failure that promoted uncontested “circle-work” and was a factor in Tom Lynch’s 35-goal season.
Gale told the Herald Sun the new rule was “unedifying” as defenders stood passively on the mark in what should be a contested, in-your-face game.
The AFL brought in its new rules, including the stand rule, after closely monitoring Richmond’s brilliant efforts to guard the corridor while on the mark in the club’s successful 2020 premiership defence.
But scoring went down from 80.7 points a game in 2019 to 79.7 points in 2021 (2020 involved shorter games) even if teams could move the ball from defensive 50 to inside 50 more smoothly.
Richmond also had its frenetic tackling game blunted as rivals chipped the ball around and denied the Tigers the chance to apply their trademark pressure.
“With the man on the mark rule, teams rather than defend proactively in the middle of the ground and up the ground, they just folded back,” 244-game Tigers veteran Gale said.
“So, as a result, scoring has gone down again. It’s harder to score as teams fall back.
“If the stated objective was to get the ball in motion, then the ball was in motion. But I saw a lot of games this year which were simply keepings off. If the stated objective was to score, well, it hasn’t worked.
“Teams want to control the ball because defences were flooding back. So the ball is in motion but it’s keepings off. Teams aren’t scoring.
“I just think the mere sight of players standing passively on the mark is unedifying. When you think of the nature of our game, it’s an active, on-your-toes, aggressive game, so I think it was unedifying. Teams fold back and don’t defend the ground. Melbourne conceded a score from 35 per cent of entries and it was the lowest of all time.”
Gale admits the league is unlikely to revert from its stand rule, with new football operations boss Brad Scott making clear he saw no need for intervention.
“It’s a personal view. If they want the ball in continuous motion, so be it, but I think we like scoring and there isn’t a correlation between that rule and high scores.”
Gale said Richmond’s form had contributed to Tom Lynch’s quieter season, but added the new rules didn’t help.
“As a team, we were very inconsistent. Very unbalanced between the defensive and offensive and there were a whole bunch of reasons behind that, and we have done a lot of analysis. But at the end of the day, I don’t think our forward line got a lot of good looks.
“It’s harder to score in general as teams fall back and with the way we performed as a team, but Tom can play and he will respond accordingly.”
Former AFL football boss Steve Hocking made clear he believed the changes had worked after a remarkable Grand Final that saw key momentum swings between Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs.
“I look to the Grand Final and I think you have a look at 10 minutes to go in third quarter, the Dogs are 19 points up (and Melbourne won),” he said last month.
“If any of you needed to understand what my vision was for the game, that game captured it. It was really about the best players being able to demonstrate their high level of skills.”
Source: HeraldSun.
