RULE CHANGES

– –

Any 6-6-6 infringement will result in a free kick only being awarded to the opposition ruckman from the centre circle, the 25m penalty has been removed.

Ruck Nomination

At ball ups and boundary throw-ins, umpires will be instructed to throw the ball up and not nominate rucks. In the instance where a second player from one team (third person in) contests the ruck then a free kick will be awarded against that team.

Stand Rule

In season 2023 the stand rule will be removed. Players will be able to move on the mark but will be penalized if they move over the mark before the player has disposed of the football by hand or foot or the umpire calls play on.

Compulsory Finish Times

Compulsory finish times, which impacted the completion of some matches during the 2022 season have been removed.

All Reserves, U19’s, Senior Women’s and Over 35’s matches will continue to be fixed quarter lengths during the home and away season with no time on. The game time (quarter lengths) allocated to each match shall be completed in full with the Senior Men’s match starting upon completion of the earlier game. Clubs are expected to manage the game time schedule with coaches, clubs and timekeepers to ensure matches run to time.

Time on – Senior Finals (Reserves, U19’s, Over 35’s & Women’s)

All finals in Reserves, U19, over 35’s and Women’s Divisions will be 20 minutes plus time on in the last five minutes of quarter 3 and quarter 4 only. This will ensure a consistent approach for all Senior competitions the only exception being the Senior Men’s, which will continue as 20 minutes plus time on in all quarters.

Removal of Percentage

In all over 35’s competitions (Men’s and Women’s) percentage will be removed as the tiebreaker for ladders. Instead, the competitions will revert to Match Ratio and should two teams finish on the same match ratio the tie-breaker scenario (as presented in the by-laws) will be applied to determine final finishing positions.