Taking the arms
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Taking, hacking or chopping the arms is an infringement committed by defenders in Australian football which will result in a free kick.
The taking the arms free kick was introduced in the AFL and its affiliates in 2005. The free kick was designed predominately to make it easier for forwards to take contested marks by not allowing defending player to punch or pull a marking player's outstretched arms in a marking contest; such a practice has long been a common tactic of defenders, who required only to feign the slightest attempt at the ball to avoid penalisation. Under the modern rule, any heavy contact with the marking player's arms will be penalised unless the defender actually gets his hands to the ball in the spoil.[1]
The rule was introduced by the AFL amidst on-going calls from fans and commentators to take action against the defensive tactic of flooding; the rule does directly limit the effectiveness of defenders, but the AFL has never stated whether or not flooding was the reason for the change.[2]
