My understanding of the shepherding rule is that you're allowed to do it - forcibly if necessary (or a player feels like it) - within 5m of the ball.
But what is the correct penalty if you shepherd someone further away from the contest?
I've noticed a few times this season - definitely once in the Freo game, and another one last week against Carlton - cases where a Swan has been chasing a contest and has been forcibly blocked by an opponent, and taken to ground in the process. I am pretty sure they were way more than 5m off the contest when it happened. I'm not suggesting this is something the Swans have been particularly hard done by in - I am sure it happens to every team at some point. It's just that I've noticed it in games where I've been watching closely.
Doing this, and it going unpunished, seems even more incongruous this year with the new rule that a player who has disposed of the ball and is prevented getting to the next contest gets a 50m penalty, even where the contact from the opponent has come when they've been in the process of disposing of it (and hence should be legal) and/or when they are already off balance as a result of the disposal and hence contribute to falling to the ground.
Should a shepherd more than 5m off the contest be a free to the chasing player? If not, what is the correct penalty?
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