In the sport of Australian rules football, a kick-in (sometimes known as a kick-out, and known for much of the game's history as a kick-off) is the common name for the procedure to restart the game after a behind. It involves a defender from the team who did not score kicking the ball back into play from the defensive goal square.
The process of the kick-in is described under Law 16 of the 2019 laws of Australian rules football, Procedure after a behind has been scored. [1]
After the goal umpire has signalled a behind (but not necessarily after communicating it to the other goal umpire with the waving of one flag), any player from the team which did not score takes possession of the ball in the defensive goal square. No defending players are allowed within the protected zone, which extends fifteen metres beyond the top of the goal square (the kick-off line) and 6.4m to either side, which is the width between the behind posts). The man on the mark stands no closer than ten metres from the kick-off line.
The player taking the kick-in may either kick from within the goal square; or, may exit the goal square, at which point the umpire will call play on. The umpire may also call play on if the player does not take a kick or play on within a reasonable time. Once play on has been called, the normal rules of general play apply, and opposing players are allowed within the protected zone to put pressure on the player kicking in. The player kicking in may not handpass from the goal square until play on has been called.
In accordance with Law 10.5.2, the time clock does not run until the player kicking in has brought the ball back into play – either by kicking or being called to play on.
The kick-in (or kick-off, as it was originally known) has been part of the laws of the game since the very beginning, covered in Law 5 of the Melbourne Football Club's original May 1859 rules. Resembling the process for restarting play in many English school football codes, the original law stated:
The rules governing kick-ins have changed several times through the game's history:
Until the 1970s, conventional wisdom was to have one of the team's longest kickers kick the ball into play as far as possible so that, in the event of a turnover, the opposition would need at least two kicks to score a goal. Drop kicks, even after they otherwise had disappeared from field play, were often used for kick-ins well into the 1970s, as they were longer than any other type of kick except for the hard-to-control torpedo punt. [12]
The 1970s saw players defending the kick-in frequently punch the long kick back towards their crumbing forwards who would be close enough to score; and this began to change tactics, as teams began to favour making a safe, accurate short pass to a team-mate from the kick-in, followed by a long kick to put extra distance between the ball and the goal. The huddle became a well-known tactic: several players would gather 40-50m from goal, then break on leads in all directions – making it difficult for the defending team to cover all players and usually giving the full back at least one safe kick-in option. [12]
Through the 2000s, the development of defensive zone tactics designed to prevent opponents from freely rebounding the football made kick-ins increasingly difficult to execute well. Several rule changes made during the 2000s were designed to speed up kick-ins, giving teams less time to set up tight defense and giving the kicking player more space.
Although the most common names are kick-in and kick-out, these terms are not used in the laws of the game. Since 2019, the procedure has officially been known as bringing the football back into play; [1] and, up to 2018, as kicking the football back into play. [13]
The procedure was originally called a kick-off, but this term is now disused; a remnant of it still exists in the laws, in that the top of the goal square (9m from the goal line) is still called the kick-off line.
Other common terms associated with the kick-in are:
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