AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson said that boundary umpires could be in a good position to view holding or high-contact infringements, and that they had been trained accordingly over the pre-season.
However, Anderson confirmed that the rule, among those announced at Monday's NAB Cup launch, would not extend into the 2010 premiership season.
Other trial rules are:
1. The ability for players to decide whether advantage should be paid for free kicks
2. An extension of the 'no go zone' behind the umpire at bounce-downs, and
3. A holding the ball free kick to be paid against any player who drags the ball underneath his opponent.
Anderson said taking the awarding of advantage away from umpires should reduce complaints.
"The current advantage rule can often be confusing because it requires a subjective assessment by the umpire of whether a player has an advantage," Anderson said.
"Under the trial, if a player elects to take the advantage the play will be allowed to continue. This puts the onus on the coaches and players to decide whether or not they will take the advantage in any given situation."
Anderson said that the new rule regarding holding the ball for dragging the ball underneath an opponent was something clubs had mentioned to the AFL.
"Clubs have confirmed the prevalence of a player dragging the ball underneath their opponent in an attempt to gain a free kick," Anderson said.
"On some occasions the player on the bottom has been incorrectly penalised and this tactic is against the spirit and intent of the holding the ball rule."
Two rules - the backward kick and the 20-metre kick - have been removed from this year's NAB Cup.
Anderson said the new laws were introduced to help the umpires "get it right" and to assist the AFL with improving areas of the game.
"It's really important for us to experiment and see what we can do better in the field of officiating, as well as with the rules of the game," Anderson said.
"It's a great opportunity for us to see if we can get some of those holding decisions around the stoppages right.
"It helps facilitate a good style of play too - if there is less holding and grabbing at stoppages, then we'll probably see better footy as a result."
Anderson also guaranteed the future of the competition into 2011 when the Gold Coast would enter the competition.
While he acknowledged this would create difficulties with the draw, he said the format would remain very much the same next season.
"The NAB Cup remains in its current format for the duration of this current broadcast agreement right through until 2011," Anderson said.
NAB community and corporate responsibility general manager Tim O'Leary said his company was delighted to be involved with the NAB Cup and NAB Challenge, which will host matches in regional parts of Australia.
One NAB Challenge match will be held in Yea, roughly 140km north-east of Melbourne and close to towns severely affected by last year's Black Saturday bushfires.
"Once again it's an opportunity for the football community to come together and to raise funds and to give back to the recovery efforts in those areas impacted by the bushfires," O'Leary said.
The NAB Cup starts on Friday night between West Coast and Essendon at Subiaco Oval.
