Demetriou against goal-post rule change - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

Demetriou against goal-post rule change

By Greg Buckle 15/08/2010 01:57:05 PM Comments (0)

AFL chief Andrew Demetriou says he is against a controversial proposal to change the scoring system which would see a goal awarded if the ball went through after hitting the post.

"It actually came from a couple of clubs. That was the suggestion to try to alleviate this issue around the scoring," Demetriou said on Sunday.

"I don't like it. It's worth getting looked at.

"But I don't know about hitting the post.

"Some people have already commented that they like it and there's lots of others that don't like it."

Essendon coach Matthew Knights says the proposal "takes away the theatre of the game".

Demetriou says it's only a coincidence that this week's AFL announcements of a series of rule-change proposals came after a week of poor goal-umpiring decisions.

The AFL chief executive is also against a video-review of contentious scoring decisions.

"It will be something that (AFL football operations general manager) Adrian Anderson looks at," Demetriou told ABC TV's Offsiders program.

"I don't like stoppages in our game. I don't like having to go somewhere for 30 seconds.

"We have got a situation where we have got players who bring the ball back in quickly and the thought of stopping to wait for a video review, I'm not quite sure.

"I just think we've got to minimise our errors. We've had three or four (goal-umpiring) errors in the last couple of weeks.

"But I think in the main our goal umpires do a pretty good job."

The AFL have three options for putting a limit on interchange rotations, which have become a key tactical ploy.

Two options involve substitute players and one is a cap of 80 interchanges per match.

The league is concerned increased rotations lead to more injuries.

Demetriou defended the interchange proposals against accusations from North Melbourne coach Brad Scott that they had been introduced on a "hunch".

"They've got four to five years now of injury data. They're not basing it on hunches," Demetriou said.

Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse, whose ladder-leading Magpies have pioneered high-rotation tactics, has been a leading critic of a possible cap on interchange.

Demetriou says Malthouse and other coaches are entitled to "exploit" the interchange rules as they currently stand.

"That's fair enough under the rules. But we do have some information (on medical research) now that we do have to look at," he said.

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