Confused by the AFL’s crackdown on the deliberate out of bounds rule? So is Brisbane coach Justin Leppitsch.
The Lions boss, like many, can’t work it out.
“It’s a funny rule isn’t it, that one,” Leppitsch said after numerous deliberate calls in Brisbane’s 77-point away loss to Port Adelaide on Sunday.
“I can’t work it out.
“I’m not saying each individual call was wrong, it’s just you’re not sure whether they are going to pay it or not.
“I’m talking both teams, not just us.
“It’s just I’m a bit confused about what is and what isn’t.”
But the new-season stricter interpretation sits comfortably with Port coach Ken Hinkley.
“I know there was a lot in the game. I don’t know that there were too many bad ones,” Hinkley said.
“Everyone could sense that it was going to happen so that becomes easier to read, it does make it easier for players if it’s quite predictable.
“And I thought the umpires made it, most of the time, predictable.”
Hinkley said the tougher interpretation was “good for the game”.
“It keeps the game alive, it keeps the ball in play,” he said.
But the clampdown won’t force teams to use the middle of the field more.
“Some of the explanations I have got in the past – `well, if you’re under pressure so you have got to kick the ball back into the middle’ – we’re not going to do that,” Hinkley said.
“We will try and keep the ball in but we’re not going to be silly about it.”