Kane Cornes has lashed the AFL’s competition committee, believing they’ve become “a bit of a joke” in their size and ideas for the game.
The AFL’s former footy boss Steve Hocking introduced the committee in 2018, with a long-term future of preserving the game in mind.
It is now chaired by the league’s football operations general manager Andrew Dillon.
The Age reported on Thursday a member of the committee suggested a change to how the medical sub is utilised by clubs during the last August meeting.
The idea reportedly allowed the medical substitute to be activated in the last quarter, even if no players had been injured, providing a fit player was withdrawn from the game.
It’s similar to how the polarising substitute rule was used in 2011 and onwards before it was ultimately cut in 2015.
Cornes says the idea would be a “disaster” for the league, remembering the distaste for the rule in his playing days.
“Would you believe the competition committee has swelled to 21 members that are dictating the future of the game?” he told SEN’s The Captain’s Run.
“This is a return to the green vest. The dreaded green and red vest, which infiltrated players and the AFL, and everyone hated it.
“I can tell you because I was playing at the time, the players hated the sub vest rule.
“It was a disaster, the AFL said this doesn’t work, after four years we’re scrapping it … this is just bringing the substitute vest back.”
While the AFL ditched the original rule more than five years ago, the medical substitute was brought in at the start of 2021 with games lengthening back out after the shorter season last year.
Cornes isn’t only calling for the “ridiculous” suggestion from the committee to be shut down, but he’d also love to see a rethink of the medical substitute going forward.
“Let’s not have a medical sub, let’s have a concussion sub, and certainly don’t have it where the coach can inject fresh legs halfway through the last quarter,” he continued.
“This competition committee is becoming a bit of a joke, there are too many members on it, there are too many people coming up with ridiculous suggestions.
“Whoever this was (that proposed the idea), I take you back to 2011-2015 when we had the joke of a rule, the substitute rule with the green and red vest running around, we do not need it.
“But there is a certain thing that needs to happen, and we need to clear up the vagueness around the medical substitute, and it’s certainly not injecting fresh legs whenever the coach wants in the last quarter.”
28 players who were taken off injured and replaced under the new rule returned the following week in 2021.
The competition committee is set to meet again next month, although the agenda for the event is understood to not be finalised.