Game management is the system umpires use to manage player behaviour and keep the game safe. It runs from informal advice all the way up to removing a player from the game. This page explains that system — and the game management ladder at the centre of it — to give you a better understanding as a player or a coach.
The Game Management Ladder at a Glance
Game management follows a set progression. The table below sets out the steps at a glance — if you want to read the steps in more detail, see the full game management guide.
| Step | What happens | What you'll hear |
|---|---|---|
| Before the official ladder Informal advice |
The umpire signals through whistle, voice, and terminology that behaviour needs to change. | Longer whistles, a firmer tone — see the umpire's toolbox below. |
| 1. Proactive advice | The first official step — a clear instruction about the behaviour that needs to change. | "Goal Defence, you need to increase your distance when defending." |
| 2. Advance | The penalty pass is advanced up to half a third closer to the goalpost your opponents are attacking. | A longer or double whistle, and a clear announcement that the penalty is being advanced. |
| 3. Warning | Time is held. A warning is given and the player is advised what will come next if the behaviour continues. | "This is a warning. Any further foul play and you will be suspended." |
| 4. Suspension | The player leaves the court for two minutes and the team plays with six players. | "That's now a suspension. Please go over and sit on the umpires' bench." |
| 5. Ordering off | Four minutes with the position left empty, and the player takes no further part in the match. | Similar to a suspension. |
It Only Goes One Way
It's important to understand that a player can only receive one of each official step in the table above. Once you enter the ladder — whether with proactive advice or an advance — you can't receive that step again. If the behaviour continues, you move up to the next step.
This holds across the whole match. If you picked up proactive advice or an advance earlier on and the behaviour creeps back in, the umpire can't give another piece of proactive advice — you'll be going up to an advance or a warning, whatever the next step is.
The Umpire's Toolbox
Before any official advice, umpires will try to signal to players that the behaviour needs to change through informal steps. The aim is to give the player an indication that they're drifting towards the game management ladder, and to help them adjust before they get there. The common cues:
- A longer, sharper, or louder whistle than the umpire has used so far in the match.
- A more deliberate voice — slower, firmer, more pointed.
- Flipped terminology. Most calls run infringement first: "Contact, Goal Defence." When that becomes "Goal Defence, contact" — your position named first — that's generally the umpire trying to get your attention and indicate that this is a little more than a normal penalty.
- Sustained eye contact after a call.
- A tactical pause before announcing the infringement.
An umpire using these cues is telling you that the next step is proactive advice — and giving you the chance to change your behaviour and avoid it. What to do when you hear these cues, and how to process them, is covered in Approaching game management.
It's important for all players on court — and the coaches — to be alert to these cues. The player concerned may be so caught up in the game that they simply don't hear them. If everybody is watching for them, someone can step in and help get that behaviour changed.
Dangerous Play Doesn't Need Intent
The 2024 rules brought an increased focus on player safety — particularly around head and neck contact, and contact that endangers a player's safety or causes an unsafe landing. They gave umpires very clear direction: dangerous play is an immediate suspension or ordering off. A common misconception is that dangerous play needs intent. It doesn't — the rules do not require it. To help you understand, here's the broad decision process an umpire works through:
Is there a contact infringement?
Did it endanger player safety? Forceful impact to the head or neck — direct, or from the head hitting the court or goalpost — or contact that puts a safe landing at risk, such as moving into the landing space of an airborne player.
If yes, it is dangerous play — and will result in a suspension or an ordering off. Intent has not yet entered the picture.
Was it intentional or highly reckless? Only now does intent matter — and only to decide whether the sanction moves from a suspension up to an ordering off.
What a Suspension Actually Means for Your Team
Suspensions are rare, which means they can catch teams by surprise and unprepared. While they are rare, it's important to have this understanding so that if one does happen — particularly in an important game — you're ready for it and can deal with it.
- The position stays empty. For positions other than Centre, nobody replaces the suspended player — your team plays with six players for the full two minutes (four for an ordering off). You can't switch another player into the suspended position: it is that position that stays empty.
- Centre is the exception. Rule 18 requires another on-court player to move to Centre — and it is their position that stays empty instead. When the suspended player returns, they come back as Centre and the player who switched in reverts.
- Return happens at the next break in play once the time has been served — a goal, a sanction, or a throw-in. The umpires will guide this.
- The team may return a bench player instead of the suspended player. That can be a good option: it gives the suspended player more time to cool off, gets them out of the umpire's eye, and avoids escalating things and risking the suspended player being ordered off.
- An ordered-off player does not come back. After the four minutes, the team may bring on a bench player, but the ordered-off player takes no further part in the match.