Sydney Swans' Gary Rohan during one of his first outdoor runs since breaking his leg last season. Picture: Brett Costello. Source: The Daily Telegraph
"KEEP your feet," is today's answer to the AFL latest rule change that challenges a footballer's natural instinct.
The crackdown on sliding into the legs of an opponent - after serious injuries to Collingwood midfielder Scott Pendlebury and Sydney utility Gary Rohan and reckless slides by Swans captain Adam Goodes last season - has made the "keep your feet" philosophy appear the simple answer to giving away a free kick.
Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley seems more of a genius for making this mantra a core element of the Power's pre-season training regime.
He had midfield assistant coach Shaun Rehn build a sand pit on the old cricket practice pitches at the southern end of Alberton Oval where Port players threw themselves to ground and were compelled to make a Jack Rabbit-rise to their feet.
"It's the way you want to play," says Hinkley. "You are a much better player when you are on your feet. That's what we've told our players all summer ... Hopefully, that helps the players with the rule."
On the evidence of last week's season-opener between Adelaide and Essendon at AAMI Stadium, "keep your feet" is not enough to spare a player significant grief from the new slide-in rule.
Too much is made of the first goal scored from this new rule - the free kick conceded by Adelaide defender Brent Reilly as he rolled into the legs of Essendon forward Alwyn Davey, making the "forceful contact below the knees" that the new rule punishes. Not even the Crows match committee defends Reilly on this costly error of judgment.
But Adelaide's coaches have isolated incidents in the game that do prove that even the "keep your feet" mantra will not help.
Adelaide midfielder Patrick Dangerfield kept his feet, put his head over the ball and as he claimed possession of a loose ball ran head-first into the legs of Essendon captain Jobe Watson. He was penalised for making forceful contact below Watson's knees.
A year ago Watson would have been penalised under the bump rule that forbids forceful, front-on contact above Dangerfield's shoulders.
Pity the umpires who have to make the distinction today.
Geelong captain Joel Selwood would be nervous now. He made an art of dropping his head over the ball and ramming opponents to score a free kick for high contact.
If he now burrows into the lower legs of an opponent - in the way a Geelong team-mate did to break Pendlebury's legs - Selwood would be punished. Keeping your feet is not the guarantee for any AFL player who instinctively puts his head over the ball and wants to move through heavy traffic.
Hinkley says "there is not so much you can do in training" to cope with the slide-in rule. The AFL will argue at least coaches will stop training their players to dangerously slide into the scrimmages, as Goodes did twice last year.
"We've been aware (of the new rule) - aware of it for some time," Hinkley says. "It is going to take some adjustment for the players because instinct takes over when you are out there playing."
But what of the umpires who have been burdened with interpretation on top of new rules.
What defines "forceful" contact below the knees? When does this rule over-ride forceful, front-on contact above the shoulders?
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