Melbourne captain Max Gawn has offered a solution to the controversial new ruck rule that has caused chaos during the AFL’s pre-season.

The AFL brought in a handful of new laws for the 2026 season with the ruck rule (rucks are now unable to cross the centre line during a centre ball-up before engaging with their opponent) copping the most heat.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Brodie Grundy’s genius ruck play against Nick Madden

Gawn had already sounded the alarm last week with the potential for more injuries before the first few official games of the pre-season threw up some interesting clashes.

Geelong big man Shannon Neale gave his club a massive scare when he clashed knees with Carlton ruckman Marc Pittonet in Wednesday night’s pre-season match.

Fortunately, it was just a shin knock, but the athletic forward, who kicked 44 goals last year, was in serious pain with many onlookers and pundits immediately fearing he had injured his posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) due to the knee-on-knee contact.

The following day, during the Sydney-GWS clash, Brodie Grundy outfoxed his opponent Nick Madden by simply not jumping and waiting for his opponent to cross the line to win a free kick.

The decision was obviously correct to the letter of the law, but went against the idea of the rule, which was brought in for the hope of both ruckmen jumping for the ball.

AFL footy boss Greg Swann conceded that hadn’t factored in Grundy’s move and admitted that will look at it.

“We will have a chat about that one,” he said on SEN.

“I’m probably glad he did it in the practice games rather than the home and away.

“It’s probably one we didn’t contemplate, but we’ll have a look at it and see where we go.”

Gawn, arguably the greatest ruckman of the modern era, said there were some “concerning” incidents regarding the rule last week before offering a tweak to improve things.

“At the moment when you read the rule ... I’m hoping because I actually haven’t read the rule ... the rule is you can’t cross the line, pretty black and white rule,” he said on Triple M’s Mick in the Morning.

“I like the idea of potentially putting it in the umpire’s hands, which potentially is a bit more work (for them), which sometimes isn’t good.

“(My rule tweak is) You can’t deliberately cross the line to impact the ruckman’s go at the ball.

“Don’t need to throw the rule out of the book, just tweak it

“It’s hard to test because last year there was a bounce so every time they are watching them jump so it is different.

“I don’t mind the rule for my own personal gain, sometimes I’ll come up against rucks that I’ll go alright, I just didn’t love watching the first two or three games with some of the free kicks that came.

“I think maybe just less black and white.”

St Kilda great and Channel 7 commentator Nick Riewoldt suggested the AFL might be more inclined to change things on the go with Swann there.

The new AFL season kicks off on Thursday night with Sydney and Carlton clashing, and while all eyes will be on Charlie Curnow against his old side, it will be interesting to see if Grundy tries any tricks in the ruck.