Brad Hardie: five things that should be changed about the AFL before a red card

Tom Jonas' hit on Andrew Gaff has prompted the inevitable - and ridiculous - suggestion that the AFL needs a red card rule.

I've spoken about this before. Shouldn't happen, can't happen, won't happen.

But if there is an appetite for change among fans, then I'm open to zeroing in on some areas of our game that could use reworking.

Eagles players weren't happy with Tom Jonas but to send him off would have been ridiculous. Photo: Getty Images

Here are five rules I'd change that would actually make for a better spectacle.

1. Deliberate rushed behinds: need to be officiated the same as deliberate out-of-bounds around the ground. It's a complete nonsense that you have one set of rules for one part of the ground - and a completely different set just a couple of metres away. I'm all for some benefit of the doubt for defenders when it comes to rushed behinds but when a player like Fremantle' Lee Spur does it blatantly - as he did on Saturday night when he had the chance to pick up the footy - then he deserves to get pinged. On the other hand, I reckon Pearce Hanley was a bit stiff. Whatever the interpretation, the penalty needs to go back to a behind awarded and a bounce at the top of the square (which would be the same as a kickout infringement). A kick at goals from straight in front is way too harsh a punishment.

2. All angles in ruck contests: big men should be able to approach ruck contests around the ground from whichever direction they see fit - provided they don't engage in body work before the ball goes up. The ruck should never be about just who the tallest player is or who can leap the highest, which is what it becomes when you make the two blokes just come straight in at each other. Poor Jackson Trengove never had a hope for Port on the weekend against Nic Naitanui and Scott Lycett under the current rules. But give him some angles to work with and he might have been able to nuance his way to a few wins.

Oh, and for the love of God, please make the boundary umpires come in five metres when they are throwing the ball in. Too many throw-ins are ending up way short of the mark.

3. Bring back the sub...sort of: most teams travel with at least 23 players or will have an emergency read to go in case something happens in the warm-ups. So why not have that 23rd guy ready - and able - to go if a player suffers a catastrophic injury, as Rodney Eade has proposed. For all the people calling for send-offs in the Gaff incident so the Eagles get a fair deal, this is a uch more workable model. The only thing I disagree with from Rocket is that player who goes off should have to miss the next week as well (I'd be betting that Gaff plays this week). Another possible solution: if a team loses a player for the game, give them extra rotations.

4. Goal line technology: it's absolutely incongruous that the same camera model shouldn't be in place at every game. We should never have a situation where we could, for instance, work out if something is a goal at the MCG...but not at the SCG. By the way, I'm still absolutely flummoxed as to how Christian Petracca's "goal" was reversed on the weekend, when the replay was anything but conclusive. Imagine if that had happened in a key moment of a final?

5. Chopping the arms: OK, so this has always technically been the rule but the interpretation of it is way too slanted towards the forward. As a kid running around in a red-and-gold T-shirt at Hilton Park we always got told that as long as the ball was there, there was nothing wrong with a bit of contact with the arms as part of a legitimate attempt to spoil. Sure, whistle the blatant ones. But we've become so soft about this - basketball-like to be honest - that a contested mark barely even happens in a contest any more.

6. Keep players in a certain part of the ground: a bit from the left-field, I'll admit it. But if you make it mandatory that a certain amount of players have to be in a particular part of the ground, you'll go a way towards getting rid of the rolling maul that happens when both half-backs and half-forwards suddenly join the midfield (as always seems to be the case now). You'd also get rid of the deliberate out-of-bounds which get called when a player at half-back has absolutely nobody to kick to and hoofs it long up the ground, only to see it go over the line. If there aren't any options forward of the play, what else is a bloke supposed to do?

Hero of the week:
The groundswell of support for Jarryd Roughead shows just how well liked the humble Hawks forward is. The courage which which he's approaching his cancer battle is inspiring to all and it was great to see him there at the MCG on Friday night.

Goat of the week:
A tie between Michael Diamond and Kayne Turner. Turner's double-whammy of drink-driving on P-plates while injured was a shocker. And whether he had a gun licence or not, Diamond's situation was trouble waiting to happen.

Things that make you go hmmmmmmmm:
It's not so long ago that Gary Ablett was by far the best player in the competition - and one that every other club would have wanted. But right now I reckon the Gold Coast would happily trade him; only the size of his contract, his injury concerns and his age means they won't find any takers. To thrive in the long-term, the Suns have to keep at least two of Ablett, David Swallow, Jaeger O'Meara and Dion Prestia. If Ablett's staying put, which of the others (if any) will remain on the coast?

Brad Hardie will pen his weekly AFL column for WAtoday each Tuesday morning. You can also hear him on Radio 6PR Sports Today with Karl Langdon on weeknights from 6pm to 8pm