In the long run, the AFL’s promoted return to normality was considerably overstated.
Certain, it was footy again on the MCG, and with a considerable crowd in the home as well. However this wasn’t footy as we remembered it from a pre-COVID period — this was one thing new solely.
This was AFL footy within the days of damage subs, strict interchange caps and umpires bellowing “stand!”. It was a model of the sport that noticed Carlton cling on till round about time-on within the final quarter earlier than giving strategy to Richmond, as a substitute of a while within the third.
It was thrilling and controversial in the identical measure, a triumph and an entire failure all of sudden.
The opening sport of the 2021 males’s season was an ideal storm of speaking factors for the AFL as the whole lot the league put within the place over the low season — proper up till the the day earlier than this opening sport — collided collectively. And although the pattern dimension stays small, it was sufficient to present us a sign of what to anticipate between now and September.
The very first thing to notice, and the purpose that the brains belief at AFL HQ might be most eager to emphasize, was that this was a sensational sport of footy. From the primary bounce, the ball simply whizzed across the MCG at a ferocious and completely unsustainable tempo.
There was a continuing whiff of physicality, proper from Harry McKay’s early encounter with Nick Vlaustin, and the presence of 49,218 individuals on the floor added to the urgency. At floor stage, it was the whole lot Melbourne footy followers had missed and the whole lot the AFL had hoped to conjure.
So what is the damaging? Plainly, the various holes within the new guidelines that rapidly turned clear; some that had been predicted and a few that got here as a regarding shock.
Firstly, the damage sub. The rule that was parachuted in simply hours earlier than the primary sport, that was seemingly born out of a gathering of a choose handful of the league’s coaches final week.
No matter the way it got here to fruition, the twenty third man is right here. And it’s a game-changer.
On Thursday evening, each groups made use of the damage substitution, with Carlton taking Jack Silvagni off at half-time for Oscar McDonald and Richmond subbing Vlaustin for Jack Ross late within the third quarter.
The impacts of each have been stark and instant. McDonald kicked a objective inside minutes of his introduction and one other within the fourth quarter, with loads of essential marks and a few huge tackles in between, whereas Ross offered some pivotal late run as he picked up eight disposals of his personal.
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In each instances, the injection of recent legs was optimistic for the staff, a reality that’s going to result in a basic shift to what an damage means in an AFL match. What was as soon as an unlucky setback can impulsively be a bonus.
And whereas Silvagni’s shoulder damage regarded pretty severe — a subluxed shoulder will definitely hold him out for a minimum of 12 days, the minimal the AFL says an damage must justify a sub — Vlaustin’s prognosis was mainly only a nasty bump on the knee, the form of contact damage {that a} participant might fairly conceivably recuperate from in every week.
Already, after only one sport, the league might discover itself in a severe pickle. Each coach within the AFL would have been watching this sport, and would have seen how the substitutes made tangible, optimistic impacts for his or her groups, and will Vlaustin discover himself capable of play subsequent week, it is going to be open season.
The sub rule was arguably launched in response to, and can turn into much more vital due to, the minimize to a most of 75 interchanges per staff and a return to full 20-minute (plus time-on) quarters.
That one was a call made purely to extend fatigue, which for a very long time has been advised as the important thing to opening the sport up and growing scoring. It most definitely did the previous — each participant on the sector was mainly goosed by midway by way of the third quarter — however whether or not it helped or hindered the movement of the sport late, when groups have been fastidiously managing their previous few permitted interchanges, might be up for debate.
But it surely makes that damage sub all of the extra attractive for coaches. The injection of even one pair of recent legs as the sport grinds to a halt round him might very simply be the distinction in a match.
Lastly, the person on the mark. The stand rule. Both the sport’s saviour or the demise of the code, relying which facet of the fence you fall on.
After all of the discuss, all of the AFL gross sales pitches, all of the blowback from followers and horrifying clips from intraclub scratchies, its influence on this sport was … perhaps negligible?
It definitely did not wreck the sport, and maybe you might put the match’s pleasing aesthetics all the way down to a bit extra freedom for the ball-handler — although Dustin Martin mentioned after the sport he did not really feel it had a lot of an influence in any respect.
However once more, the wrinkles with this rule aren’t essentially the plain. The issues will come from the loopholes, of which two foremost ones have already appeared.
On a lot of events, the person on the mark opted to not stand on the mark in any respect, however fairly lurk just a few metres again from that designated spot, ready the place they’re free to leap and shuffle and transfer with impunity. It really works, till Sam Petrevski-Seton will get caught just a little bit between the mark and the spot simply far sufficient away from the mark, and is known as for a 50-metre penalty.
Confused? After all you might be, it is needlessly sophisticated. Collingwood’s Scott Pendlebury made an excellent level on the problem on Twitter, however in case you aren’t fully up along with your footy lexicon the entire thing might nicely go fully over your head.
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The opposite loophole got here with set photographs, as gamers kicking for objectives slashed 5 to 10 metres off their kicks by operating simply to the facet of the person on the mark, who is not capable of transfer to finish what can be a easy smother till it is too late. In addition to wanting a bit foolish, this manoeuvre performed its half in a handful of objectives on the evening.
None of those are essentially game-breaking, however there are worms escaping from cans everywhere in the AFL proper now, and up till now we’re but to listen to an actual plan on how they intend to place them again in.
So there’s meals for thought, and far to be careful for within the coming days and weeks. Crucially, these most likely aren’t speaking factors that ought to supercede the sport, the ability of Richmond’s efficiency and the positives Carlton can take away.
On the finish of the day, for all the Blues’ good work, they actually solely suffered from the easy incontrovertible fact that Dusty Martin performed for the opposite staff. Regardless of all the novelty on the evening, some issues have been by no means more likely to change.