PLAYERS have been put on notice after 50m penalties were awarded in eight out of the weekend's nine games for breaching rules that govern what players can do when standing on the mark.
During round 16, there were an average of 1.3 50m penalties paid per team per game, the first time the average has topped one since round five.
There has only been one round – round three – this season where the average 50m penalties per team per game has been higher than 1.3.
In that round there were 27 50m penalties paid but since then the average number of 50m penalties paid dropped to below 20 per round before making a comeback on the weekend with 24 penalties paid.
Eleven of the 50m penalties paid on the weekend were for either encroaching the mark or entering the protected area without having an opponent within two metres.
The trend started on Thursday night when Cyril Rioli was penalised for entering Ollie Wines' protected area.
It continued with remarkable consistency until the third quarter of the West Coast v North Melbourne match when Jack Ziebell gave away a 50m penalty to Andrew Gaff that led to a goal.
Geelong gave away two goals from 50m penalties in the first half against the Sydney Swans on Friday night, conceding three 50m penalties for the first time since round three.
Melbourne v Fremantle in Darwin was the only game in the round where a 50m penalty was not paid.
The rule was tightened in 2016 with players to be penalised for encroaching a protected area of 10 metres around the mark or moving in a direction other than in a straight line across the mark.
50m penalties per team per game 2016
Round 1 1.3
Round 2 0.8
Round 3 1.6
Round 4 0.8
Round 5 1.1
Round 6 0.9
Round 7 0.9
Round 8 0.9
Round 9 0.9
Round 10 0.9
Round 11 0.9
Round 12 0.6
Round 13 0.8
Round 14 0.7
Round 15 0.8
Round 16 1.3
Stats supplied by Champion Data
