Western Bulldogs great Brad Johnson has called for a tweak to the 6-6-6 rule.
The rule, which was brought in ahead of the 2019 season, states that six players from each team must be stationed in each of the 50m arcs and centre square zone (four inside and two wingmen) at the restart of play.
While Johnson is happy for that rule to remain the same, he has called for the warning aspect of it to be thrown out.
Currently, if teams don’t line up in the 6-6-6 formation, the umpire warns the ruckman of the team that committed the breach that his team was out of position, with a second infringement leading to a free kick.
Now that the rule has existed for almost five years, Johnson believes the competition should remove the warning as players should know better by now.
“It's got to be gone next year,” Johnson said on SEN's Sportsday.
“The warning for the 6-6-6 rule has to be gone in 2024.
“It's not going to change this year and I get it.
“But I'd love to see it next week, the AFL just come out and go, you know what, you've had enough time to do this.”
Johnson is of the belief that teams should be punished for any infringements as he feels coaches even often break the formation as a small tactic to reset ahead of a centre stoppage.
“I think now as an industry and as supporters and fans of watching it and us working in it consistently when that warning and you see the umpire walk towards the ruckman and say, ‘Sorry mate, it's a warning for this one’, I just think it's a joke,” Johnson said.
“You blow the whistle, you say, ‘You know what, you stuffed it up and you're getting penalised now for it’, and we get on with the game.
“You watch sides rush to get their players on and off and if they make that mistake that's on them, that shouldn't be a warning.
“A ball up that becomes neutral and then they're actually more advantaged, I think even sometimes it's a small tactic used at particular points just to go, ‘You know, what we need an extra five or 10 seconds here just to get our act together’.”
Umpires also have the power to pay a 50m penalty from the centre bounce if they deem a club is deliberately breaching the 6-6-6 rule.