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Sport Nation
The rule change that Malcolm Blight has urged the AFL to make
Lachlan Geleit • May 20th, 2025 11:15 am
Aussie rules icon Malcolm Blight agrees with Geelong coach Chris Scott that the AFL’s four-umpire system simply doesn’t work.
The league brought in a fourth umpire for the 2023 season, and both Scott and Blight think that the previous three was more than enough.
Scott told the media last weekend that, ‘Four umpires doesn’t work’, and Blight thinks that adding an extra umpire has made decision-making cumbersome and confusing, whereas the previous three-umpire system allowed officials to split the ground into thirds.
“We started on the one umpire, we went to two, and then when it got to three, I thought, hang on, this is a bit extravagant,” Blight said on SEN Sportsday SA.
“But then with three on the ground, you’d have the ground in thirds, one in front of the ball, one behind the ball and one on the ball, it was logical.
“I just think three umpires was plenty. I agree with Chris, four looks cumbersome and confusing.”
Another decision that Blight can’t wrap his head around is why the AFL hasn’t brought in the last touch out of bounds rule.
The SANFL brought in the rule in 2016, with a free kick awarded against a player who kicks or handballs the footy over the boundary without it being touched by another player.
Blight thinks the rule would reduce confusion and take away the inconsistency with deliberate and insufficient intent rulings.
“The other thing is, when are they going to bring in last touch out of bounds? It's been in here in the SANFL for what feels like forever,” Blight said.
“There was one on the weekend that Dan Curtin kicked out of a scrimmage, it took a bit of a left turn, and the umpires paid deliberate. It was the most un-deliberate kick I've ever seen.
“Take that out of the umpire's hands. Last touch, why haven't they done it?
“Not only Laura Kane, but Brad Scott and even Steven Hocking (before her). That's got to be coming from somewhere above that standard.
“Just get rid of the confusion, and we still need boundary umpires because there's going to be some that are out of the scrimmage, so you're not going to know what happened.”
