Shane, back then, wingman would attempt to break the tackle, and if they couldn't, they would attempt to dispose of the footy. If they kicked or handpassed, or made a genuine attempt to, it would be play on. If they dropped or threw the footy it would be a free kick to the tackler. Very rarely would the ball be bounced, only if the tackler held the ball into the player trying to get rid of it. That was a simple rule, but umpires then wanted to show how good they were at bouncing the footy, so they started calling for more ball-ups, which led to the present balls -up.