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Sport Nation
“A bit of creep”: AFL admits stand rule errors against Essendon
Andrew Slevison • April 30th, 2025 10:02 am
Essendon coach Brad Scott has revealed that the AFL has admitted to errors in regards to the stand rule and protected area.
The Bombers had sent vision to the league after their narrow win over West Coast only to see Collingwood players “creep” around the protected area in the Anzac Day blockbuster.
On Channel 7’s The Agenda Setters, clear vision was shown of Magpies players moving in the protected area when they perhaps should have been standing, which certainly caught the attention of Scott and the Dons.
At other times these encroachments might have been paid as 50-metre penalties but not in these particular instances which left the Bombers scratching their heads as the AFL admitted to errors.
“The club did,” Scott said when asked if they had sent vision to the league to seek clarity.
“But we do that periodically, only if it’s a material adjudication.
“In terms of how the rule is interpreted, it seems there’s been a bit of creep on the stand (rule) and the protected area.
“I understand it’s a really hard rule to umpire, but do you have to stand or can you just block the 45 (degree kick)? In this case, can you stand on the inside and protect the midfield?
“They’ve come back and said they’re all errors, so there’ll obviously be an adjustment to that. That doesn’t help us now.
“We didn’t send this in to say ‘are these errors or not?’, we actually sent vision in the previous week asking ‘if this is the way it’s interpreted we’ll do the same thing’.
“We just want some clarity on it.”
It prompted questions from Kane Cornes and concluded with Scott wondering if the rules implemented by his former AFL House colleague - the AFL’s ex-GM of footy and current Geelong CEO Steve Hocking - are falling by the wayside.
Cornes asked Scott: “So that was the previous week though, and it wasn’t corrected for Anzac Day?”
Scott replied: “No, but I mean…”
Cornes asked: “So how frustrating is that for you? Do you go again now (and send in more vision)?”
Scott said: “No, it’s just some clarity around ‘are you allowed to do this?’
“If the answer is no, then fine, we move on. I’m not interested in going back in retrospect, it’s what is going to affect us going forward and is it material?
“I think the stand and protected area is material to the way the game is played, because Steve Hocking and others went to enormous lengths to open up the game offensively. Defence was winning for a long time and now offence is starting to win.
“It seems it’s creeping back a little bit.”
It will be interesting to see if North Melbourne players use the same tactics against the Bombers at Marvel Stadium on Thursday night when Round 8 kicks off.
