“It was a joke”: Cornes calls on AFL to scrap rule ahead of 2022 season

Kane Cornes has called on the AFL’s Competition Committee to scrap the ‘stand’ rule ahead of the 2022 season.

The committee will soon meet to discuss plans for next year, where potential alterations to existing rules could be raised.

Under previous football boss Steve Hocking, the AFL introduced the ‘stand’ rule on the eve of the 2021 season, where players weren’t allowed to deviate once an umpire had set the mark.

Cornes said on the back of a “horrible” year for the level of scoring in the game, he would look to revert to the previous interpretation.

“It was a horrible year for scoring,” he said on SEN SA Breakfast.

“It was the worst year we’ve ever had, despite all the changes (to rules) it didn’t equate to higher scores.

“The stand rule did nothing to improve the game, it made it harder to watch, you got sick of the umpires yelling ‘stand’ and you’re requiring teams to play with 17 players instead of 18 which is a joke.

“We also had the lowest Coleman Medal winner tally with 58 (goals scored by Harry McKay) and scores have never been lower so scrap the rule.”

Cornes said it appeared the AFL were going to press on with the rule after including it in the upcoming AFLW season.

He implored the competition committee to consider its future in the game, claiming the players “hate” the way the rule is currently officiated.

“Coaches come up with things like, ‘let’s not even stand the mark’,” he said.

“It was a joke of a rule when it first came in and they didn’t even trial it in the pre-season, the players hated it and it didn’t work.

“If I was on the competition committee, you cut your losses don’t you? There’s no point doubling down on this, but that’s not what they’re going to do because they’ve brought it in for the AFLW.”

Cornes also said the medical sub should be looked at ahead of the 2022 season, wondering whether an alternative application of the rule should be considered.