Under any system, an element of discretions has to be exercised,

These comments have provoked significant feedback from community football leagues and umpiring associations across Australia, all reporting dismay within their umpiring ranks about being able to retain numbers.

We made a lot less mistakes,

The NAB Challenge provides the AFL an opportunity to test rules, it provides clubs the opportunity to test new players and set plays and strategies and we are using the occasion to test an idea...

I suspect the main reason is that the players are fundamentally well behaved on-field. They have become more and more disciplined.

No reports were lodged and the Bulldogs haven’t lodged any complaint and we confirmed with the Bulldogs they don’t intend to.

It is really for the clubs and players and people providing their feedback to let us know,

A player whose only offence in the past five years was a financial sanction will be eligible for a five-year good record.

There has been great debate and interest around the NAB Cup with these rules and there will be plenty of debate for weeks to come and we look forward to it.

There were concerns that the weighting of prior offences when combined with carryover points may become excessive.

What this system endeavours to do, … is provide factors which explain the discretion and make it transparent and accountable (and) some parameters by which people can follow how they’ve reached their decision.

The suggestions that umpires award free kicks without regard to the merits [of a free kick], that umpiring is not a worthwhile pursuit for kids and that umpires should put their egos in a locker...

I don’t want to go into my view at the moment.

We discussed a process of actually me sitting down with the coaches after the end of the season and talking about where the laws’ committee is at and getting the input face-to-face with the coaches,...

It’s not a matter of which is the appropriate definition to be applied, … but what it (i.e. the action) was.

As much as they might like to be camouflaged at times, we don’t think they will be sufficiently camouflaged by the grass.

What this system endeavours to do is to provide some factors which outline the discretion, which explain the discretion and make it accountable and transparent.

There was no thought to introducing this in the NAB Cup. This is a very preliminary, experimental trial only for a regional match at this point of time.