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[Caveman]

The Jason Akermanis 30 METRE FORWARD kick that ended up out of bounds and subsequently a penalty free kick to the Southern Saints just burns my blood. Technically by full letter of the law it may have been right- Akers intention may have been that his kick found the (hopeful) safety of the boundary line. Yet I hate that rule and here are the reasons why


(1) It is about interpretation- how many of us are mind readers? Was that his intention- what if the kick just went off its course? People would say that as he is such a good kick he meant it. Therefore a good kick of the ball like Akermanis is at a disadvantage to say a James Manson of (Collingwood/ Fitzroy 1990's) or Peter Johnston of (early mid 1980's Geelong) because as Jamie Manson and Peter Johnston were such bad unreliable kicks- their 'deliberate' may well have been just one of their standard 'stuff ups'?

(2) He kicked it forward 30 metres- he didn't handball the ball over the boundary line- that sort of thing (the handball over the boundary line) is blatant and deserving for deliberate-but a kick forward- is a positive tactic it is an ATTACKING move, much more than it is a DEFENSIVE move. If a 30 metre kick forwards goes out of bounds- so be it- there is no rule that the ball must be kicked down the centre of the ground- why have wings? The boundary line is the boundary line if you kick it near there- so what? The player is just using the whole field- Aussie Rules isn't played on a rectangular ground.

(3) It is not time wasting - it hasn't been since the start of the 1994 season- because from the 1994 season we changed the time set up of the quarters- it went from 25 minutes and time on in 1993 to 20 minutes and time on in 1994. The shorter actual playing time was the trade off for time on being called for more situations- the most crucial being the ball out of bounds. So when the ball is out of bounds the time keepers stop the clock- so it IS NOT TIME WASTING.

(4) Kicking the ball backwards and sideways then playing keepings off is more time wasting than a 30 metre kick forward that happens to roll out of bounds. What happens if the intention is to kick the ball out of bounds but it bounces just before the boundary line and a freak bounce means that it stays in? You can't be penalised because the ball stayed in- yet the intention was to kick it out of bounds. So should the umpires pay a penalty free kick for the 'INTENTION' of kicking it out of bounds even though the intention didn't eventuate?

(5) One of the reasons players kick it backwards is to save breath- because they know they will be penalised like Aker was if they go anywhere near the boundary line. When you are kicking it backwards you are not trying to score- your plan is to waste time- a kick forward means you want to get the ball closer to your goals- the intention is to increase the chances of you scoring- teams shouldn't be penalised for that. Teams are not attempting to kick goals themselves when they kick it backwards to each other.

That rule needs to be changed- we must encourage teams to kick it forwards and discourage teams from kicking it backwards. No one should ever be penalised for a 30 metre kick forwards towards their goals