Flooding has reared its ugly head over the past five years and in some ways it was ignited by Essendon's dominance of season 2000. Our only loss that season came at the hands of the Western Bulldogs and courtesy of Terry Wallace’s full flood.

There have been different versions of the flood since then – Rodney Eade used the ‘transitional’ flood to great effect on the SCG. While it was felt by most that the tactical evolution of the game would bring an end to this ploy, sadly it appears not.

This year the flood is back with a vengeance - full floods with 36 players in a half of the ground is bad for the game. Most importantly it is the spectators who hate it and they are the people that make this game. We owe it to them to address the issue.

Flooding is a soccer tactic used by West Bromich Albion playing Manchester United at Old Trafford. Stifle the space of quality teams, create a turnover then attack on the break…hoping to score. It is used in our game to totally close down the attacking option of teams, which results in ugly, boring football. It is a ‘save the game’ mentality rather than a ‘play the game’ mentality.

Apart from turning people away at the turnstiles the tactic will have ramifications further down the food chain. Coaches by nature copy each other and you can be assured that from TAC Cup down to under 12's the ‘copy cat’ syndrome will be played out.

The 'spirit of the game' will be changed but even more worrying is the fact that if this becomes common place we will no longer be developing footballers. The art of positional play could change forever. Already the fitness and athleticism has taken precedence over players playing positions and learning the game – we recruit athletes instead of footballers.

If the flood continues we will continue to churn out robotic athletes that don’t know the game or their role in positional play. The art of being a centreman, winger or half forward could possibly disappear, replaced simply by the flooding player who can run quickly and fill space. The flooding player will be quick, fit and can run the length of the ground but he cannot 'play the game'

I say we should start at the top. At a coaches’ meeting 'put it on the table' and remind them that they have a responsibility to the game. I don't know how this will be received as I imagine the coaches will say 'our responsibility is to win'. But as we know their bigger responsibility is to leave the game in better shape than when they came in. They have an enormous responsibility in this area. Flooding is good for wins and very bad for the game

As this plea may fall on deaf ears, I believe we need to legislate to fix this problem and we should start trialing rules in 2006. Let’s call it the ‘Positional Rule’ for the sake of a name but this is how I envisage it may work.

• Maintain the 10 second rule – players must dispose of the ball or play on within 10 seconds.

• Maintain the kicking backwards rule that has been trialed – I think this should be brought into the game full time

• At all times a team must have two forwards inside the attacking 50m arc.

• At all times a team must have another two players forward of the centre circle. This will mean every team has four forwards with four defenders on them the attacking side of the centre circle. This will eliminate a total of eight players available to flood. Of course these players can lead up into play and past the half way mark but at least the starting point is that each club must play four forwards in that particular area of the ground – a minimum of two inside 50 metres and two outside 50 metres.

This will decrease the number of players available to flood. It will keep the game open, moving freely and make it a better spectacle. It will eliminate the ugliness of 36 players in a half and just as importantly show that there is a place for positional play and the development of 'footballers' to play those roles. It will then become a football contest.

I think we can take a lead from cricket. I believe it is a simple matter of the 3^rd umpire policing that area and monitoring the positioning of those players. Cricket umpires police players in and out of the inner circle in one-day cricket. A similar situation occurs in soccer with the off side rule.

What I have written here is quite broad and it isn’t the final answer. I do hope however that this is a starting point and as such I have written a letter to Adrian Anderson at the AFL. I am very strong on having footballers play our game and the time has come for this issue to be seriously debated and considered. Yes, I will admit that when flooding first came in I thought natural evolution would take care of it – now I am not so sure.

For what it is worth I think it is worth making a point about the rules’ committee and the fact it doesn’t incorporate anyone at the ‘tactical coalface’. And this is in no way having a go at the people involved because I have the utmost respect for them. But these issues are talked about day in, day out at match committee level from a tactical point of view. Wouldn’t it be worth having someone from the ‘inside’ involved in discussions such as these with the rules’ committee.

Anyway, they are my thoughts and I hope it creates some debate.