THE AFL’s new protected zone will prove an unexpected bonanza for the league’s sharpshooters, with double the room to ply their trade around goal.

The league will early next week announce whether the no-go zone on either side of a player taking a kick is to be eight or 10 metres.

Either way it shapes as the “Stevie J” rule, giving players taking a mark beside the point post vast tracts of space to snap the ball across their bodies.

The crowding of players like Johnson and Richmond’s Jack Riewoldt just 5m from the mark as they turned side on to snap had become a familiar sight.

Round 18

But now they will have plenty of time and space, with Johnson’s brilliant snaps a feature of Geelong’s 2007-11 premiership dynasty.

The goal square extends 9m and the gap between goalposts is 6.4m, highlighting how much space the AFL’s forwards will have.

Umpires coach Hayden Kennedy yesterday said AFL coaches were providing feedback to the league ahead of next week’s decision.

“The protected area will be modified. It’s width will become eight or 10 metres and we are in the process of ringing around the coaches,’’ he said.

Jack Riewoldt snaps for goal. Picture: Wayne Ludbey Source: News Corp Australia

“Last year a lot of people thought it was too close (when a player snapped from the point post). He takes one step and his opponent takes one step and they are on top of each other.”

Johnson was once the master of that style of kick and nailed both of his deliberate snaps after a mark or free kick last year.

But Richmond’s Riewoldt and Adelaide’s Eddie Betts took the title last year, both nailing eight of their 11 deliberate snaps at goal after a mark or free kick.

Jack Riewoldt has favoured that style with 40 attempts and 25 goals (62.5 per cent success rate) in the past five years.

Betts (20.9), Geelong’s Tom Hawkins (19.15), St Kilda’s Nick Riewoldt (20.7) and James Podsiadly (20.7) round out the top five in attempts since 2011.

Just as Hawthorn’s spate of rushed behinds in the 2008 Grand Final saw changes to the rushed behind rule, last year’s decider helped solidify changes to the protected zone.

There were as many as 20 instances of a player standing on the edge of the 5m protected zone to prevent a player from wheeling inboard for a 45-degree kick.

The added space is a byproduct of the AFL’s determination to expand the protected zone to allow free-flowing and high-scoring football.

The AFL believes confirming the size of the zone before the last round of NAB Challenge games will give clubs a chance for a final trial.

Kennedy confirmed the AFL could look to help umpires pace out 50m penalties more accurately with the help of the league’s curators.

In the Carlton-Essendon game the curators mowed the grass in 10m strips or patterns to help whistleblowers.

The league could ask all curators to follow suit, with veteran umpire Brett Rosebury saying it helped him with 50m penalties.