The AFL have moved to stamp out deliberate rushed behinds, increasingly decried as a blight on the game.

In a ruling approved by the AFL Commission on Monday, defenders who deliberately rush an opposition behind will be penalised a free kick in next year's pre-season competition.

And the AFL has reserved the right to introduce the rule in the 2009 premiership season.

The league's laws committee decided on Monday awarding the opposition a free kick close to goal was the best deterrent to rushing behinds.

The committee also decided to water down breaches of interchange rules for 2009.

The rushed behind was a major talking point last season, as Richmond's Joel Bowden used the tactic to soak up time in his side's narrow win over Essendon, while Hawthorn's backmen were content to rush through 11 behinds in their win over Geelong in the grand final.

AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson, chairman of the laws committee, said clubs were keen for a law change.

"The strong feedback the AFL received after the grand final was that clubs and coaches would deliberately rush more and more behinds if the rule was not changed," Anderson said.

The options of a bounce 25 metres out from goal or a boundary throw-in from the behind post were carefully considered, but not selected because they create extra stoppages and time delays which increase the opportunity for teams to flood.

"The option of a free kick for a deliberate rushed behind was adopted because it is the simplest option, the greatest deterrent, and is most consistent with the current laws of the game."

Umpires will apply the benefit of the doubt to defenders under direct pressure or whose aim it is to spoil or touch the ball before it goes through for a goal.

Other rules to be trialled in the pre-season which could be adopted for the season proper are the awarding of 50-metre penalties against players who hold on too long to opponents who have just disposed of the ball, and a no-go zone for players behind umpires at centre bounces.

In a change already approved for next premiership season, sides will be penalised a free kick and 50-metre penalty from where plays stop if they breach interchange rules.

Last season's rule, where sides were penalised a free kick and 50 metres from the centre of the ground, was considered too severe for the offence.

Umpires will also have the right to recall badly-offline bounces.

Among the rules scrapped from next year's pre-season competition was the one where play would continue if the ball rebounded off a goal or behind post and back into play.

The laws committee also comprises Fremantle captain Matthew Pavlich, former AFL players Kevin Bartlett, Luke Darcy, Andrew McKay and Michael Sexton, players' union boss Brendon Gale and former umpire Rowan Sawers.

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