AFL football operations manager Mark Evans says the AFL is "not afraid" to look at a last-touch rule if the game's lawmakers choose to further strengthen the deliberate out-of-bounds rule in the future.
The SANFL has this year introduced the radical last-touch rule, with a free kick paid against the team that kicks or handballs over the boundary line without the ball being touched.
It was last trialled by the AFL in the first round of the NAB Cup in 2011.
A strengthening of the deliberate out-of-bounds rule has been partly credited for the free-flowing football on display in the opening two rounds, and Evans said the umpires could have been even stronger in their adjudication.
With spoils in marking contests not yet considered deliberate, and rushed behinds more lenient, Evans said there was room to further tighten the rule as early as next year.
"I actually don't mind in South Australia where you're looking at any last kick or last handpass [over the boundary] is an automatic free kick … I'm not afraid to look at that," Evans told radio station 3AW.
"You give less certainty to something that is interpretive and we still have an umpire trying to interpret whether a player has shown enough intent to keep the ball alive.
"We decided not to do anything about marking contests, and they would be adjudicated the way they were last year, (but) I've seen a couple of double fist-pumps where it goes straight over the boundary line and five metres deep."
Evans said players being allowed to deliberately spoil the ball over the boundary line contradicted the strengthened rule, but the League would move in small increments.
He challenged the umpires to maintain the focus on deliberate out of bounds for the rest of the season.
"I still think we've missed quite a few over the weekend. There were six or seven that we could have picked up that really would have hammered the point home, and maybe three or four in the first round," he said.
"What I did say to the umpires is we don't want to get to round seven or eight and we've softened back to a different position. The challenge is to keep it as strong as it has been."
Evans said the attractive football played in the opening two rounds could partly be put down to new rule interpretations and the interchange cap of 90, but coaches deserved credit for "an attacking brand of footy".
Meanwhile, Evans confirmed he would consider restructuring elements of the AFL's football operations department after the departure of umpires boss Wayne Campbell, who has joined Greater Western Sydney as its football manager.
Former St Kilda and Collingwood midfielder Luke Ball has taken on some of Campbell's responsibilities while Evans considers how to replace Campbell.
One option is to create a new position that oversees umpiring, the Match Review Panel and the Tribunal.
Originally published on afl.com.au
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