Gold Coast coach Rodney Eade believes the AFL should trial the use of zones to reduce the increasing amount of congestion during games.
In an interview with the Herald Sun, Eade suggested the league should implement a rule where three players from each side must be in both 50 metre arcs at a stoppage to reduce the number of players around the ball at a ball-up.
โI suggested it three or four years ago on the Rules of the Game Committee and I saw Mark Evans trialled it with St Kilda,โโ he told the Herald Sun.
โItโs just having starting points at stoppages, you donโt have to draw any lines. I hate the word zone because itโs only for stoppages.
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โSo you could say itโs three players for each side at every stoppage โ centre bounces, kick-ins, throw-ins, ball-ups. When the ball is in play there must be three of each team inside 50.
โAs a coach I am not going to want Tom Lynch in the back pocket when I know he is about to have to run back.
โSo you are more likely to have that spread-out effect. Not as much as in the โ70s or โ80s but a bit more than we have at the moment.โ
Eade then suggested a team would be penalised with a free-kick against if a it did not have three players in each arc by the time of a stoppage.
โItโs about starting points which supporters wouldnโt notice. There would be some free kicks early but it would be a big penalty so quickly players wouldnโt do it," he said.
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