We had online handball training today - 90 of us - and watching through 20 odd clips. Yes, it was better than I expected. Great guy presenting. Super clear.
There are some things that were good - obvs the law is now much shorter, easier to remember. The tough ones were those involving jumping for the ball and contact with other players. An arm comes out, perhaps unnecessarily, but perhaps caused by balance, jumping or another player. Before we had above shoulder height as a guide, now we don't. And TBH I totally disagreed with one of the decisions - not a great sign.
There are a couple of issues still:
Accidental handball assist is now OK, good. But there is the same problem as offside with "immediate" - a goal "immediately after" a handball. This is not defined and this is a gaping hole.
On one hand you can now just wait to see if the attacker scores after an accidental handball. But there's also now the loophole - it won't be long for an attacker dribbles round the GK after an accidental handball, and squares it for a team mate for an open goal
The idea of "justifiable" I think is way too open. At least we've just been given a very strict interpretation - basically arms away from the body is probably not justifiable. But that's not what the law says. I think the wording of the law is pointless: "position of their hand/arm is not a consequence of, or justifiable by, the player’s body movement for that specific situation." This just does not explain anything. We are basically being instructed to decide based on the last few years of experience - not what it says in the law. Because what it says in the law is daft . because you can twist it to serve any purpose.
The worse bit is "By having their hand/arm in such a position, the player takes a risk of their hand/arm being hit by the ball and being penalised" - not that this impacted the training, but just because this is totally inconsistent with the LotG and seems really odd that it made it in. If you commit an offence you might be penalised? Or if you don't commit an offence you might be penalised anyway? Really?
My feeling after today is that HB should be totally different. If it's deliberate ITOTR then DFK/PK, if it's technical/accidental/unknown IDFK. There. So, I' bring "intent" back. Before you say "we can't read players' minds" ...welll... I think we can infer that more easily than what is justifiable based on a specific situation. ANYTHING is justifiable!