Hocking “confident” as rule changes move a step closer to reality

AFL operations boss Steve Hocking is “satisfied” with the amount of work the league has done ahead of possible rule changes in 2019.

The AFL Competition Committee finalised its recommendations to the commision on Thursday afternoon, with an extended 18-metre goalsquare, starting positions after goals and a mid-season draft or trade period all possible alternations before next season.

“Personally, I’m really satisifed with the work that’s been done,” Hocking told Sportsday.

“The objective of the (larger goalsquare) is to distribute the numbers in the larger part of the ground and that’s what we’ve seen in the trials.

“We also want to give the team that has possession of the ball after a point is scored the ability to take the game on and a lot of the work that we’ve done is to help open the game up for players to be creative and instinctive in.

“Our trials have indicated a 15 per cent increase in scoring and a 14 per cent decrease in tackling numbers.”

The AFL will finalise all mooted rule alternations after the AFL Grand Final on September 28.

Click PLAY to hear Gerard and Dwayne’s full chat with Steve Hocking on Sportsday