Clement is officially stuffed.

[Filthy]

Rules committee just brought in a new rule.

If you place both your hands in the back of an opponent in front of you and push off him to mark, it is now in the back and is a free to the guy in front...the way it always was since Jesus played full back for Jerusalem.

We will cal it the Clement Rule. James...get another job, cheat.

[DC]

we dont always see eye to eye filthy, but i agree with you 100% on this. I hate the way clement gets lauded as 'the best in the business" when it comes to playing and beating his man from behind. Its bs...he was pushing in the back 75% of the time.

I remember when he did it to Hirdy 3 times in the 1st quarter and Hirdy was pissed at the fact there was never a free. Hird should of been paid 2 frees IMO.

Clement is in a bit of trouble...and hopefully so are collingwood.

[Filthy]

we dont always see eye to eye filthy, but i agree with you 100% on this. I hate the way clement gets lauded as 'the best in the business" when it comes to playing and beating his man from behind. Its bs...he was pushing in the back 75% of the time.

I remember when he did it to Hirdy 3 times in the 1st quarter and Hirdy was pissed at the fact there was never a free. Hird should of been paid 2 frees IMO.

Clement is in a bit of trouble...and hopefully so are collingwood.

It'd be boring if we did DC.

[dom_105]

Rules committee just brought in a new rule.

If you place both your hands in the back of an opponent in front of you and push off him to mark, it is now in the back and is a free to the guy in front...the way it always was since Jesus played full back for Jerusalem.

We will cal it the Clement Rule. James...get another job, cheat.

Ah, the Jerusalem Saints. Now they were a good team back in the day. You could almost say that they were blessed

[Crowny]

[quote="dom_105
Ah, the Jerusalem Saints. Now they were a good team back in the day. quote]

One things for sure. They were much better than the St Kilda version.

[F111]

I like this new interpretation.

Which EFC players may suffer under this rule?

[jimmyc1985]

Which EFC players may suffer under this rule?

The main player i can think of is Lloyd - he often likes to hold his man under the flight of an incoming high kick with both hands to the back, and then give him a little shove just before the ball lands. But i suspect he'll be good enough to adapt appropriately, e.g. instead of using his hands to do this, he'll just start leaning against the defender side-on with his shoulder.

[BenDoolan]

This is one area of the AFL I dislike with great passion. Here we go again. Another rule change that will only complicate the game and the way its played. Why target an insignificant area of the game when the most pressing issue is no doubt, the ugly, boring flooding tactics and the keepings off bullshit that we increasingly see more of every season? How about adopting the VFL style "play on" if you kick backwards outside the forward 50 area? NA, we'll just look at an insignificant one on one physical contest. Perhaps Mal Michael might struggle after all.

[Madden]

This is one area of the AFL I dislike with great passion. Here we go again. Another rule change that will only complicate the game and the way its played. Why target an insignificant area of the game when the most pressing issue is no doubt, the ugly, boring flooding tactics and the keepings off bullshit that we increasingly see more of every season?

Absolutely spot on.

[robrulz5]

Good to see. Clement won't get a kick now.

[swoodley]

This is one area of the AFL I dislike with great passion. Here we go again. Another rule change that will only complicate the game and the way its played. Why target an insignificant area of the game when the most pressing issue is no doubt, the ugly, boring flooding tactics and the keepings off bullshit that we increasingly see more of every season? How about adopting the VFL style "play on" if you kick backwards outside the forward 50 area? NA, we'll just look at an insignificant one on one physical contest. Perhaps Mal Michael might struggle after all.

Sorry Ben but I've got to disagree.

The most basic rules of aussie rules state that you can't put your hands in the middle of someone's back and push. It's something that kid's are taught from the time they start playing.

Maybe if the umpires had policed the rule correctly there wouldn't be a need to come up with this "change"

A one on one physical contest is not what Clement does. DC's comment re Clement and Hird proved a classic example of what currently gets called a contest when in fact it is just one player pushing (illegally) off another player.

I understand that people get frustrated and annoyed with a lot of the rule changes but I think this is a good one.

[BenDoolan]

This is one area of the AFL I dislike with great passion. Here we go again. Another rule change that will only complicate the game and the way its played. Why target an insignificant area of the game when the most pressing issue is no doubt, the ugly, boring flooding tactics and the keepings off bullshit that we increasingly see more of every season? How about adopting the VFL style "play on" if you kick backwards outside the forward 50 area? NA, we'll just look at an insignificant one on one physical contest. Perhaps Mal Michael might struggle after all.

Sorry Ben but I've got to disagree.

The most basic rules of aussie rules state that you can't put your hands in the middle of someone's back and push. It's something that kid's are taught from the time they start playing.

Maybe if the umpires had policed the rule correctly there wouldn't be a need to come up with this "change"

A one on one physical contest is not what Clement does. DC's comment re Clement and Hird proved a classic example of what currently gets called a contest when in fact it is just one player pushing (illegally) off another player.

I understand that people get frustrated and annoyed with a lot of the rule changes but I think this is a good one.

It's a matter of opinion. I never once sat in the stands and thought "gee they ought to do something about backmen putting their hands on the back of forwards and push off". I do however sit there thinking "when the f*** are they gonna do something about this keepings off crap?". I've always accepted the "push off" scenario as legitimate. There is a fine line between pushing in the back, and pushing off someone. Now I think we'll see any player (forward or backman) who place their hands on the back of their opponent be free kicked for tiggy touchwood frees. All the player in front has to do is move slightly forward when he feels a hand on his back and the umpire will have to blow the whistle. In essence, this rule may change the way players act for a free kick. They will no longer have to leap and dive on the ground to be paid a free, all they'll have to do is slant slightly forward, and bingo! It's not just Clement that will be affected, it's forwards as well, such as Lloyd.

What also annoys me is when they introduce a new rule, they go completely berserk early in the season and pay them willie nillie. By the end of the season, the rule has just about gone out the window. It happens every bloody year.

I guess I'll just have to sit in the stands and watch it all unfold, and in the meantime, we'll see the usual keepings off crap continue.

No hard feelings swooders, you're entitled to your opinion, just like we all are

[swoodley]

No hard feelings at all Ben...as you say, we're all entitled to our opinions and this would be a pretty boring placed if we all agreed on everything.

I do agree with the following statement that you made.

"What also annoys me is when they introduce a new rule, they go completely berserk early in the season and pay them willie nillie. By the end of the season, the rule has just about gone out the window. It happens every bloody year."

I wish I was as certain about picking the lotto numbers as I am about new rules going out the window as the season progresses.

[Filthy]

Marking contest rule changes
01 December 2006 Herald-Sun
Mike Sheahan

MIKE Sheahan writes: A week ago, it was said to be nothing more than a stricter interpretation in marking contests.

Yesterday, it was exposed as a fundamental shift in the rule relating to contact in a marking contest.

From next season, a player who applies his hands to the back of an opponent, even if only to hold his ground, will be penalised.

AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson said last night: "As soon as a player puts his hands in the back of an opponent in a marking contest, the umpire shall award a free kick."

It is a major change, one that will impact heavily on the style of many players including elite defenders James Clement and Darren Glass, and Sydney's star forwards, Barry Hall and Michael O'Loughlin.

Clement was genuinely shocked when told yesterday.

"That's ridiculous. If you're just laying your hands on someone, that's not pushing in the back," the Collingwood star said. Someone hand him a rule book.

"As I read the news, they were just saying it's a stricter interpretation.

"I just can't help but feel the game is definitely being slanted the way of the forward."

He said he was saddened by the change, but understood it "because people want more goals".

Anderson indicated the change had been driven by the game's governing body, the AFL Commission, which traditionally confines itself to matters of policy.

"It's been an issue they've raised from time to time.

"The commission noted it wasn't permissible in the 1960s and '70s." (Commissioners Graeme John and Mike Fitzpatrick played in the VFL in those times.)

"It (the change) has received strong support from the commission."

Anderson said the change was "designed to assist the umpires by making the rule more black and white".

"There was concern over inconsistency in the application of the old interpretation," he said.

The announcement of the change was tucked away in a media release last Friday headed: "AFL Commission approves change to the Laws of the Game."

The biggest change relates to protection of a player with his head over the ball, and has met with almost universal approval.

Buried in the release was a sentence that said: "There will also be stricter interpretations . . . of two aspects of the game for the 2007 season, including stricter policing of hands in the back in marking contests . . ."

In truth, hands in the back are outlawed.

Clement said: "We're yet to be told as a playing group precisely what this means."

He admits to often laying hands on opponents, without pushing. BULLSHIT!!!

"I'm definitely one for using your hands. I'll just have to go back to the drawing board and find a new way to go about it.

"You can rant and rave . . . it's too bad."

Asked if he might content himself by having a rule named after him, as Matthew Lloyd has since the crackdown on the time players are given to kick for goal, he said: "They might call it the Darren Glass rule."

Reasoned as ever, Clement said: "If we're going back to a purer form of football, and everyone agrees, then I'm comfortable."

Not sure the umpires will be as comfortable early next season when they penalise Clement, Glass and Co. for what has been acceptable for at least 20 years.

SUCK SHIT CLEMENT...OVER RATED CHEATING HACK.

[robrulz5]

Just shows what a dick he is when he admits to having his hands in someones back but also says he never pushes.