AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson was joined by St Kilda's Sam Fisher and Geelong’s Joel Selwood to kick off the pre-season competition which will again be used to trial new rules which, if successful, may be introduced to the premiership season.
Anderson said the AFL determined the issue of deliberate rushed behinds needed to be addressed. As such a new rule, suggested by Crows' coach Neil Craig, will see a free kick awarded where such an incident takes place.
"Throughout the consultation process it was clear most clubs and coaches supported the introduction of a rule to do something about rushed behinds," Anderson said.
"Therefore the clubs were unanimous that deliberate rushed behinds would continue to increase if nothing was done about it.
"We chose that [idea] because it is the simplest and most effective deterrent and most consistent with the laws of the game as they currently stand."
The second trial rule under consideration is the awarding of a free kick against any player who tackles, holds or makes high contact with his opponent after he's gotten rid of the ball in an effort to stop his opponent from moving onto the next passage of play.
Anderson was confident the rule would allow greater ball movement and a more free-flowing on-field spectacle.
"This [holding up play] was a trend that we saw emerging throughout last year and, again, we'll be closely monitoring that through the NAB Cup to determine if that rule comes in during the premiership season," he said.
The third trial will be the umpire's 'no-go' zone which aims to protect umpires from player contact at centre bounces.
Anderson was confident all three changes could be effectively instituted before the start of the home-and-away season if they were deemed beneficial to the game.
A fourth innovation which will not be considered for the premiership season is the introduction of 'substitute' players.
Two of the eight interchange players are to be designated as substitutes and can be brought onto the field at any time. The player a substitute replaces can take no further part in the game.
NAB General Manager (Community and Corporate Responsibility) Tim O'Leary felt the NAB Cup had become an important part of the AFL calendar due to its ability to take the game to more remote parts of the country, its role in rules innovation and its investment in youth.
"We think the AFL is doing outstanding things with game development and we're delighted to be right there at the grass roots level from Auskick to the Rising Star program," O'Leary said.
"Through the NAB Cup and the NAB Challenge we bring the game to people who typically don't have the opportunity to see AFL football at the elite level.
"This year we're taking it to places like Alice Springs, Cairns, Berri and Bunbury, but what I remember particularly in recent years was the NAB Challenge match in Nerranderra … which has a population of about 5,000 people and 14,000 people came to the match there.
"It's for those reasons around access, innovation and aspiration – people realising their potential – that we do have something very special in the NAB Cup pre-season competition."
The NAB Cup kicks off on Saturday night when West Coast hosts Collingwood at Subiaco.
