Port Adelaide champion Kane Cornes has slammed the AFL's latest rule changes, namely taking aim at the competition's introduction to force players manning the mark to remain still.
The rule is one of three introduced ahead of the 2021 season that will look to open gameplay, but has received some strong criticism since it's induction.
Speaking on SEN SA Breakfast, Cornes compared the new rules to those used in Auskick in a scathing review of the new regulations.
“The biggest concern around this is the AFL is turning into Auskick,” Cornes said.
“Already, we’ve had the most ridiculous rule that has ever infested the world of an AFL football game and that is you have to nominate two ruckmen, one from each team, before a ruck contest.
“The umpire, before he throws it up, ‘Who’s up?’. You’ve got to put your hand up as if you’re playing Auskick where you change the ruck around and you’ve got to nominate.
“Now you’ve got this ridiculous command. An umpire blowing the whistle, motioning with his hand and saying ‘stand’ to a grown AFL footballer.
“It’s almost comical that our game, via the rule changes, is turning into what you would see on a Sunday morning at Auskick.
“That’s no disrespect to the Auskick kids but. Obviously at that age you do need a bit more command from your umpires.
“You don’t need it at AFL level and what it’s going to cause is complete confusion.
“Some rules have been ok in the game, and I’m not convinced this is going to be one of those.”
Along with the man on the mark rule, clubs will be limited to 75 interchanges per match and will also have marks set at 15-metres from kick-ins, up from 10 metres.