After months of debate, the league has decided to limit the run-up of ruckman to ten metres next season in a bid to reduce the speed at which the big men collide at centre bounces.
Under the new rule each ruckmen's run-up must begin within the ten metre circle and ruckmen still cannot cross the centre line before the ball has been bounced.
The AFL resisted the temptation to get rid of the centre line - which ensures the ruckmen approach the centre bounce from opposite sides - for fear ruck contests would revert back to wrestling contests, which is the reason the centre line was initially introduced.
And the AFL also decided against banning knee contact at ruck contests for fear this could lead to more injuries for ruckmen if they were to leave themselves unprotected at centre bounces.
AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson said the move was designed to limit the number of posterior cruciate ligament injuries suffered by some of the game's best ruckmen in recent years, including Sydney's Adam Goodes and West Coast's Michael Gardiner.
Anderson said AFL research showed there had been 18 posterior cruciate ligament injuries sustained by ruckman in the past six years compared to just four from 1992-97, which he attributed to ruckmen using their knees more and more as an aggressive move at ruck contests.
But he hoped the new rule, along with tighter policing by the umpires of illegal use of the knees in ruck contests, would lead to less knee injuries in the coming seasons.
The full new ruck law reads as follows:
"The centre bounce or throw up shall be contested by one nominated player from each team. Such player shall be nominated to the field umpire prior to the bounce or throw of the football. The player contesting the centre bounce shall be positioned in his or her team's defensive half of the playing surface and with both feet within the 10-metre circle. The player may only enter the team’s attacking half after the football touches the ground in the act of bouncing or leaves the field umpire’s hand in the act of being thrown up. The player shall not be permitted to block an opponent's approach to the contest. Ruckmen must have both feet inside the centre circle at all times until they contest the bounce or until the umpire calls play-on due to an 'offline bounce'. No other player may enter the 10-metre circle until the football touches the ground in the act of bouncing or is thrown up by the field umpire."
