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So now another, we can have 45k into Perth stadium on the season’s first game, but not 60. Once you get that many attending, wtf another 15k?????

I asked the umps if this rule is being applied in the WAFL. They said it is and it was used tonight. Just looks stupid. When it costs our team goals in real games it is going to destroy games of football.

DD wrote: I asked the umps if this rule is being applied in the WAFL. They said it is and it was used tonight. Just looks stupid. When it costs our team goals in real games it is going to destroy games of football.

Yep, seeing it live last night in the intra-club at Lathalin makes you realise how much of an advantage this gives to the player with the ball.

Let's not delude ourselves that this has anything to do with making the game itself "better". This is all about advertising and how many (more) adverts Channel7 can shove into a game.

Having not read the new rule but seeing it in practice, what is stopping a player not standing on the mark but maybe 2 meters behind and moving around all he likes? He would only have to make it known to the ump he's not on the mark and the rule doesn't apply....just food for thought.

The player on the mark can’t move - except up and down - once the umpire has called the mark and the player is on the mark until the umpire calls play on. What I think I saw St Kilda do a few times the other night was not go all the way up to the mark, instead hang off it, and therefore not be called to be on the mark. Maybe we’ll see more of this to get around what is a pretty big advantage to the team with the ball.

Ok I have watched the pre season games and I am not sure that the rule is all that bad, the good teams still won and the not so good teams still struggled. As one commentator said 5 penalties is 500 marks and free kicks is a fair indication that teams and coaches have a handle on it.

As BC said and I did earlier don't stand the mark, stay back and then you can cover the outlets, yep you give an extra 2 or 3 metres but then it still means you have to defend properly.

I think I saw Darling when having a shot on goal subtlety move off a little to his right when running in which allowed him to get really close to the man on the mark and he didn't actually kick it over his head, the freo guy didn't/couldn't move. He missed anyway

Having watched the derby this arvo, I must say that the new rule didn’t really stand out. Let’s see what’s ahead.

The players seem to have adjusted to it pretty well already and certainly didn’t impact any games I watched over the weekend enough to scrap the rule.
It seems to me that the umps have also tightened their interpretation of when a player moves off their line and is called to ‘play on’

Just to give you an idea of how quickly players and coaches learn to adapt and manipulate to new rules, below are some things that Nick Dal Santo spoke about this week to outline how clubs are training to the new stand rule preparing for different situations.

When elite kickers have the ball, players will get to the mark as quickly as possible to try and force them backwards off the mark before kicking – buying their defenders time.

If a player is identified as a lesser kick, teams will back off the mark tempting them to make kicks that might prove too difficult for anyone other than the best in the comp.

Another tactic clubs are experimenting with is if a player is trailing his opponent on a lead, rather than try and close the space, they will back off and try a cut laterally to the inside of the ground. This resets the mark to a more corridor position, before the umpire can make his ‘stand’ call.It means teams concede distance in order to control direction.

Teams have even discussed using a ‘floating mark’ – in effect using a second player to man the mark – outside the protected area, but again on the corridor side to force teams to play wide.This allows clubs to maintain a level of defensive control, to try and cut off the inside disposal, which proved so damaging in Round 1.