The AFL have made an amendment to the amount of time players will be able to hold up play after a free kick or mark around the ground. This rule change does not apply to kicking for goal or kicking out from full back.
In previous seasons players have been give seven or eight-second before being asked to move things along and up to 11 or 12 seconds before they are asked to play on. In 2006 it will be five or six seconds before players are asked to move along and seven or eight before play on it called.
""It is amazing the amount of pressure that has been put on Matthew Lloyd - and full forwards in general - in regard to his kicking at goal and the 30-second shot clock we keep hearing about. But it is in the midfield that the game will really speed up,"" Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy said.
""Players now only have five or six seconds before they are asked to move on and maybe seven or eight before they will be asked to play on. It will be interesting to see what effect that has on Sydney whose style of football is to own the ball and slow the tempo.
""It might not seem a big time difference but it will have an effect on the game if it is policed as the umpiring department is suggesting. There are far more kicks through the midfield than in any other part of the ground.
""If they want to speed the game up they will be pretty vigilant I would imagine. It is not all about killing the hardest job in football which is kicking goals.""
