AFL Rule changes for 2016

Article by Linda Lane

During the last week In February the AFL Board, Officials & Coaches, all came together to focus on player safety and the flow of the games.  They have worked diligently and promised to continue to work on elements of safety, making adjustments for overall improvements of the game.

 

Most notable changes will be as follows:

1)      Eliminating booth reviews during National TV Games:  No longer will officials review or call for a review in the last minute of each half of play.

2)      All challenges will be controlled by the Head Coach and within that final minute as well. Each team will continue to have their (2) challenges in games and if a team wins both of them in a game they will be allowed a 3rd.

  These next few will be big ones as we saw a lot of these issues last season:

3)      Ball carriers and loss of their helmets: When a carrier losses their helmet or it comes off, the PLAY will be stopped immediately with the ball spotted at the point where helmet was off.

4)      Dangerous plays/pulling players off of a pile: If a player or Coach attempts to remove an opposing player from the pile it will result in a personal foul and given a penalty.

5)      Onside kicks and blocking:  Both teams are allowed to try and block the play immediately after the ball is kicked.

6)      Kick off alignment:  The kick off teams will be limited to (5) players in either side when the kicker is kicking the ball. A penalty of (5) yards will be given for illegal formation.