From the Caulfield-Glen Eira Leader and localfooty.com.au
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FOUR field umpires will work VFL games this season in a possible forerunner to an extra official being brought in for AFL matches in 2017.
The four-umpire system will operate in the state league for one match per round in the first 10 rounds.
Clubs will be briefed about it at a VFL general managers’ meeting at AFL Victoria tomorrow.
The AFL has announced that four umpires will handle games in the split rounds of this year’s home-and-away fixture.
The system was tested in a handful of league matches last year.
“It’s a trial thing for us. The AFL have tried it. They’re continuing to have a look at it and may bring it in permanently in the near future,’’ VFL talent manager Cam Nash said today.
We’re just trying to be proactive and getting our guys used to it.
“We’ll do a game a week for the first 10 rounds, see how it goes and then reassess at the halfway mark.’’
Nash said the AFL hadn’t asked AFL Victoria to trial the extra umpire.
“It was our initiative. It was something we wanted to do, just to find out how it can work.
“I know the AFL found the umpires were running similar distances, but the intensity was a lot lower and they were probably in a better decision-making frame of mind. They were less fatigued. We’ll do some testing in the VFL games, see how far our guys run with four umpires compared to three and go from there.’’
Nash stressed that the system “isn’t about trying to find more free kicks’’.
“It’s about having another umpire in there with a different angle and when an infringement occurs we’ve got the extra there to pick it up,’’ he said.
Port Melbourne coach Gary Ayres welcomed the move, but cautioned against “over-officiating’’.
He said if four umpires were shown to improve the game it should become a permanent arrangement.
