Every club these days runs decoys and blocking plays, mostly aimed at the edge of the ruck around where the centres and halves defend. They are designed to make the defence commit to the wrong player and by doing so, open up gaps for the attacking team to exploit. A few years back officials felt they had to fiddle with the rules to allow these plays to be effective. If a defender made a mistake and tackled a decoy then it was his error, the attacking team had succeeded and shouldn't be punished. It was still accepted that a player in possession couldn't run behind one of these decoys. Then they started talking about the distance between the decoy and the ball carrier and making it a judgement call. They ended up inserting a clause which virtually says anything goes as long as the video referee believes the defence wasn't unfairly impeded. That clause has to go and some black and white has to return to the obstruction rule, so that fans and players can be sure about what is going on out there. Obstruction uncertainty aside, the game has never been better and the new broadcast rights deal shows just how valuable it has become. Of course I'm happy that Nine won the rights -- it will save me from having to start a lawn mowing business, for a few more years anyway. But what really excites me about this injection of money is the potential to grow our