According to John Pierik in the Age this morning, the AFL Rules Committee has decided that the “third man up” tactic is endangering the traditional role of the ruckman and will therefore be banned. Apparently what is to happen that each team has to nominate the ruckman who will contest the hitout, and if either team fails to nominate a player, the umpire will nominate someone instead.
This was considered necessary because the use of the third man up tactic had “reportedly” increased from 8.5% to 13.2% in the last two years.
So what that means is that because about once in every 8 ruck contests, someone goes third man up, the AFL has decided that the rules need changing.
Well done, guys! Great to see you earning your pay.
All they had to do was to only extend the privileges of ruckmen to the ruckmen. Third-man-up…you should be able to block them. I must admit I hate the third-man-up getting free kicks as if he’s a ruckman.
Banning third man up happened late last year. And the nominating a ruckman at stoppages was introduced a few years ago. The new rule is that if they don’t nominate a ruckman, the umpire will decide who it is, which was the de facto situation anyway.
"Eliminating the 'third man up' at ruck contests will support the recruitment of tall players and ensure our game continues to be played at the elite level by players of various sizes and differing abilities," Evans said
Combined with the new ruck academy thing that they're setting up, I'd guess they're seeing a drop off in participation rates of very tall athletes (maybe moving to basketball?) and they're trying to reverse that by making rucks more important so clubs actually invest in them. Or they're just dicking about because they're bored.
Banning third man up happened late last year. And the nominating a ruckman at stoppages was introduced a few years ago. The new rule is that if they don't nominate a ruckman, the umpire will decide who it is, which was the de facto situation anyway.
Shocked so many people think the ruck nomination thing is new and is an issue.
Thing is, why is it a problem? Who cares if a third man goes up?
I dont particularly care. Ive never really noticed this trend. But if they feel that there may be a threat of the traditional ruckman becoming extinct in favour of an extra tall midfield runner then it seems understandable.
I dont mind rule changes that seek to preserve tradition. I didnt like the fact that Robert Harvey or Brett Stanton endurance guns were being over run with blokes doing 8 minute blocks of sprint / rest either.
I dont think this one is too bad. Wont really notice it I dont think.
Thing is, why is it a problem? Who cares if a third man goes up?
And that, sir, is the point. Nobody cares. It’s part of the game. Always has been. It’s been used a bit more recently than it was say 10 years ago. Big ■■■■■■■ deal.