New trial rules for NAB Cup

The 2012 NAB Cup was launched today at the Macleod Junior Football Club in Melbourne.

In a first for the NAB Cup, all 18 clubs have had all matches fixtured for the opening rounds of the competition.

The first round will again feature pools of three teams. Each club will play two shortened matches comprising of 20-minute halves across a three-hour window. The remaining rounds will be full-scale matches.

The two best-performed teams in the opening three rounds will compete in the NAB Cup Grand Final on Saturday March 17. The 16 other clubs will play NAB Cup matches that weekend across March 16-17 in various metropolitan cities across the country.

There will be four trial rules played during the NAB Cup:

1. Interchange system with two interchange and two substitute players on the bench (will not be used in the final week of the NAB Cup)

The AFL will trial the use of two substitute players on the interchange. It has already been determined that the 3 interchange and 1 substitute player will remain in place for 2012 Premiership Season. In rounds two and three when teams are playing four quarter matches, four new players may be introduced for the second half of each game.

2. Free kick against player who drags or holds ball under opponent

As an extension of the rule trialled in both the 2010 and 2011 NAB Cup, the umpire may pay a free kick against a player who drags the ball under his opponent, and may also pay a free kick against a player who holds a ball under his opponent, when he is trying to knock it out.

3. Deliberate out of bounds

A free kick will be paid against the last team to dispose of the ball with a kick or a handball before it goes out of bounds, provided no-one else touches the ball before it goes out. A stricter version of the rule was trialled last year, but it was felt the ‘last touch’ element was too harsh in certain situations, and this has been altered in 2012 to a last kick, last handball or a player walking the ball over the line.

4. Ruck Contests at Field Bounces and Throw-ins

Ruckmen will not be permitted to make contact with their opponent prior to bounces and throw-ins, with umpires ensuring the players do not make contact with each other until the ball leaves the umpire’s hand. The trial is designed to encourage ruckmen to contest the ball, rather than focus on nullifying their opponent, as well as making ruck contests easier to adjudicate.

In response to requests from clubs, the final round of the NAB Cup, competition will be played with Premiership Season rules to allow clubs sufficient preparation for the Premiership Season. The NAB Supergoal will still be a feature of the NAB Cup Grand Final.

In addition the trial rules, there will be two umpiring trials:

1. Boundary and Goal umpires pay free kicks for holding & high contact at stoppages

As an extension to the 2010 and 2011 NAB Cup Trial, boundary and goal umpires may pay free kicks for obvious holding or high contact infringements. They will not pay any other form of free kick.

2. Consultation process for scoring decisions.

As per the trial that was used in the 2011 NAB Cup, the official scorer would be able to participate in the consultation process for scoring decisions. If the trial is again successful, it may be introduced for the 2012 Toyota AFL Premiership Season.

AFL General Manager Adrian Anderson said the NAB Cup provides an opportunity for the competition to not only trial new rules but to take the game to locations outside capital cities.

“The AFL invites football fans throughout the country to participate in the game be it with NAB AFL Auskick or the NAB Cup,” Mr Anderson said.

Today the AFL, together with NAB, launched the 2012 NAB Cup at the place where it all began for Essendon’s Michael Hurley: the Macleod Junior Football Club. Macleod JFC was deemed an appropriate launch location given they benefited from last year’s NAB Cup following Hurley’s nine-point Supergoal which earned them a swag of new Sherrins, thanks to NAB.

NAB’s General Manager of Brand & Sponsorship, Kevin Ramsdale, said the NAB Supergoal initiative (where goals kicked from beyond the 50m line are acknowledged with Sherrins back to junior football) will again make an exciting feature of the competition.

“We are very proud to have donated over $200,000 to junior clubs since the initiative launched in 2006 and we look forward to building on this in 2012,” Mr Ramsdale said.

“The NAB Cup is an exciting time of the year for us, as the competition enables us to really support the game at the grassroots level.

“The ability to take AFL to thousands of people around the country who normally can’t easily experience footy at the elite level is another feature of the competition we love. The power of footy to help bring communities together really is something special,” he said.

FOXTEL, AUSTAR and FOX SPORTS will kick off the new AFL television rights deal for 2012-2016 by exclusively covering all of the matches in round one of the NAB Cup live and a minimum of five matches live in each of rounds two and three, all in High Definition and uninterrupted siren to siren. The NAB Cup Grand Final will be broadcast live by both FOX SPORTS and the Seven Network. 

Tickets to all Round 1-3 NAB Cup matches are now on-sale via Ticketmaster. Ticket offers for children under 15 will be available around NAB Cup matches in rounds 1-3. For more details visit afl.com.au

The match-time schedule for the week one three-way match-ups in the NAB Cup is as follows (all times are local, and the timings for games 2/3 are approximate):

Friday February 17, Etihad Stadium; Richmond v North Melbourne (6.45pm), North Melbourne v Hawthorn (7.50pm), Hawthorn v Richmond (8.55pm)

Saturday February 18, Blacktown International Sportspark Sydney; GWS Giants v Western Bulldogs (7.15pm), Western Bulldogs v Collingwood (8.20pm), Collingwood v GWS Giants (9.25pm)

Sunday February 19, Patersons Stadium; West Coast Eagles v Essendon (4.45pm), Essendon v Fremantle (5.50pm), Fremantle v West Coast Eagles (6.55pm)

Friday February 24, Etihad Stadium; St Kilda v Sydney Swans (6.40pm), Sydney Swans v Geelong Cats (7.45pm), St Kilda v Geelong Cats (8.50pm)

Saturday February 25, Metricon Stadium; Gold Coast Suns v Melbourne (6.10pm), Melbourne v Brisbane Lions (7.15pm), Brisbane Lions v Gold Coast Suns (8.20pm)

Sunday February 26, AAMI Stadium; Port Adelaide v Carlton (2.40pm), Carlton v Adelaide Crows (3.45pm), Adelaide Crows v Port Adelaide (4.50pm)