WEST Coast coach John Worsfold has welcomed the AFL's crackdown on staging for free kicks and expects the penalties announced on Tuesday will see the practice removed from the game.
Players deemed to be staging will face fines of up to $2400 for a third offence during the 2010 premiership season after the League implemented changes resulting from its annual tribunal review.
Worsfold said the threat of fines would be more of a deterrent than free kicks against the offender and should stamp out examples of diving that have crept into the competition in recent seasons.
"No one's happy to see it and if it's now a chance to be penalised, I don’t think we'll see it at all," Worsfold said from Subiaco Oval on Tuesday.
"In the past, players have known there's no penalty for it and you might get a free kick.
"It still doesn't look that good when a player has that real big fall."
Worsfold said he had spoken to the umpires about the tribunal amendments, which also include greater protection for the man on the mark and increased penalties for sling tackles, head-butting and eye-gouging.
However, staging penalties would not change how his players approach the game.
"Staging's not an issue for us - it's going to take a lot to knock us over. We're fair dinkum," he said.
"That's already been addressed with the players and these are things they've just got to be conscious of."
Worsfold added that the move to protect the man on the mark was understandable and would not dilute the physical aspect of football.
The League recognised a trend in 2009 of players unnecessarily bumping an unsuspecting man on the mark with excessive force. This will now be considered rough conduct and a reportable offence.
"The game’s changed a massive amount, as we all know, over the last 10 to 15 years [but] it's still a very brilliant game to watch, it’s still tough physically and there are still great clashes," he said.
"Certainly those ones where you get a free hit on a player who was totally unaware you were coming, I think it's fair enough that those players have got a right to compete and not be picked off if they're not in the direct action and not aware of it."