ESSENDON'S one-point win over Sydney at the SCG last night was soured by a sustained barrage of hooting from the partisan crowd, and a burst from coach Paul Roos as the AFL's rule tinkering came under fire.

A fuming Roos said the AFL was turning the game into Gaelic football with its new interpretations. Roos launched a savage attack on the direction of the game, saying that the sanitisation of football was already filtering down to junior level.

"What you're seeing is what the AFL want," he said. "We've all got to get used to it. It's going to be part and parcel of football in 2007. I went to a (junior) carnival this week and it's filtering down to that level; frustrated kids, frustrated parents."

Sydney centre half-forward Barry Hall, who was brilliantly held to one goal by Mal Michael last night, conceded two free kicks at point-blank range through the new interpretation of the pushing rule. Adding to Sydney's frustration, one of Essendon's final-quarter goals came after Adam McPhee ran out of bounds with the football, and another controversy surrounds a rushed behind to the Bombers on the three-quarter-time siren.

"What it's affecting is what we remember football as," said Roos, a previous critic of the new hands-in-the-back interpretation. "I don't think it necessarily affects individual players more than others. What we're seeing is, it will affect a whole generation of footballers. The kids who are playing now will be different players from what we're seeing now.

"It'll probably at some point resemble the international rules, the Gaelic football, and everyone's going to have to get used to it. It's not something everyone's going to enjoy or like but that's the reality we face. It's going to be a changing landscape. Who knows what other changes to the rules they'll make.

"It's a case of, if we don't like it, we go and do something else. There probably will be some people who get turned off the game. But that's where it's going."

Bombers captain Matthew Lloyd was hooted all through his victory speech after receiving the Marn Grook trophy for the win. Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy saw this as a positive in a city that is still embracing Australian football. "Look, 10 or 15 years ago you wouldn't have heard a thing, so they're really getting into the game now," he said.

"They've got emotion, they've got passion, they've got feeling. They know the rules better than ever before. Even the interpretations. When you hear the crowd go like that, you know they're getting the gist of footy."

But Roos was disappointed, blaming the rule changes for the reaction. "I think we're seeing the fans and what they think of where the game's going. I felt the crowd responded. The people you talk to, there's an enormous amount of frustration and we saw that from the 30,000 people here tonight. I've never heard a crowd in Melbourne react like that, let alone a crowd in Sydney."

In a supreme irony, a rushed behind by Swans ruckman Peter Everitt at the end of the third quarter proved to be the difference. Scott Lucas' long shot on goal fell five metres short as the siren sounded, and Everitt inadvertently punched it through. After consultation, the umpires gave a behind to Essendon.

Roos did not see the incident as he was making his way down to the ground and said the Swans would not pursue the matter. "I'm not sure they're going to give us the point back, so no."

Essendon hung on to win despite a late burst by Sydney, and had Amon Buchanan's flying shot at goal at the 29-minute mark not brushed the padding on the goal post, the result would have been different. Sheedy called it "one of the best wins we've had for quite some time at Bomberland".