RICHMOND coach Terry Wallace has criticised the AFL`s strict new interchange system and the way it is being introduced.Speaking after the Tigers 30-point loss to Geelong at the MCG, Wallace said the AFL needed to "talk to somebody" before the new rules carry their full weight from next weekend.
This weekend, the league is trialling the revised system, but is not applying the new penalty that applies if a team messes up an interchange.
The AFL announced changes to the interchange rules and procedures following the controversial end to the round-six draw between North Melbourne and Sydney.
The league fined Sydney $50,000 for having 19 men on the field late in the game.
It has now set up a new interchange area and teams must now inform interchange stewards of changes before players can enter or leave the game.
There were clearly teething problems in the Collingwood-St Kilda match and again in the Tigers match.
At times, Richmond and Geelong were one man short on the field and for a short spell during the final term, the Cats only had 16 men in the game.
"I only saw one problem in the last three or four years of footy that I`ve been back involved and I didn`t know whether one problem was enough to change everything that going on in the structure of the system," Wallace said.
"What we`ve actually put in place has the potential to have much more impact on the game than the system that was in place.
"I understand exactly why the rules were brought in ... I didn`t think it was that broken in the first place.
"A better solution would have been to talk to somebody, have a chat about it."
From next weekend, the new penalty will apply where any breach of the interchange system means a team is penalised a free kick from at least the centre of the ground and a 50m penalty - meaning a near-certain goal to the opposition.
"We would have thought probably from the two sides ... (in) today`s exhibition of it, there probably would have been five goals in the first half given against both sides," Wallace said.
"We all have to do it better, because it would be pretty ugly for the game if (it) needs to get stopped five times and the ball is taken off one side and given to the other side ... because of interchange decisions."
Wallace also wondered about the interchange stewards writing down player numbers on pieces of paper, calling it "an antiquated situation".
Geelong coach Mark Thompson was more philosophical, admitting that his team struggled at times with the new system, but adding they would cope.
"We had a few patches there where we struggled a bit, but if it`s the right system - I`m not sure whether it is or not - it`s the one we`ve got, we just have to adapt," he said.
AAP
