“We shouldn’t get panicky about (the zoning),” Craig said on Friday.
“Everyone was up in arms about the rushed behind rule because it was a change and people panic, but just let it settle down.
“Flooding went away because teams started to combat it with different ball movement.
“I think it’s great for spectators to be able to sit and watch the way the game’s evolving.
“And sometimes the thing that gets under spectators’ skin is that the evolution is too slow.
“They want to be able to see what (the next trend) looks like next week, but it doesn’t happen that way.”
Craig has been an advocate for trying new rules in the pre-season competition and says players, coaches and supporters must welcome change for the game to improve.
“I think (a lot of opinions) depend on what suits you as a coach. At one stage, we say we don’t want to tinker with the rules, but then a rule comes up that we think is pretty good, so we don’t mind putting it in the NAB Cup,” Craig said.
“A lot of coaches now like the idea of having two substitutes and that was a new rule tried in the NAB Cup, which might improve our game.
“You don’t know that unless you try it and yet the initial reaction to the NAB Cup was that we have too many new rules.
“How do you get better? I reckon it’s exciting. Change is fantastic. We all want change, but it’s scary because you can make an error with your decision and your assessment.”
Craig has been credited as the originator of the new deliberate rushed behind rule on trial in the NAB Cup competition.
But the respected coach said he was simply giving an opinion when asked for his input on the issue.
“I don’t know what other coaches said or whether my opinion has been the driving force,” he said.
“You’ve already got a rule in place for the deliberate action of pushing the ball over a line, don’t you? So, I all I suggested was why not continue the interpretation of the rule.
“You pay a free kick if it happens on the wing, so why not pay a free kick if it happens in that area (the goal line) of the ground. It happens just outside the goal post and everyone’s happy with that.
“Now it just goes in an extra metre.”
The trial rule awards the opposition team a free kick for a deliberately rushed behind and some coaches say it will decide games.
But Craig argued that the current rule, which was exploited by both Richmond defender Joel Bowden last year and Hawthorn on grand final day, had already cost teams games.
“I think we’re getting too uptight about it. Just interpret the rule the way you would if it was in any other part of the ground. The only point of issue is that you normally get a point for a rushed behind, but you could miss out on a point (if the player misses the resulting shot on goal),” Craig said.
“I think what you’re actually finding is that defenders have more time than what they thought they had because in the games that I’ve watched, out the defenders come and they actually keep the ball alive and get out of that situation.”
