Alastair Clarkson calls out troubling AFL 'dilemma' amid Tribunal furore

North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson says players and coaches are facing an 'enormous dilemma' as to what constitutes a legal tackle after several players were cited in recent weeks. Clarkson claimed there was widespread confusion throughout the AFL, after Essendon skipper Zach Merrett and Collingwood's Taylor Adams were handed one-match bans for dangerous tackles.

Both have opted to appeal their bans at the Tribunal, however Clarkson says the AFL's crackdown on actions that could cause a concussion or head injury has resulted in otherwise legal tackling actions becoming punishable at the Tribunal. The two tackles saw both players pin the arms of the player being tackled, resulting in their heads making contact with the turf.

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While the AFL could be forgiven for erring on the side of caution given three separate legal actions over handling of concussions are in the midst of being brought by various former players, as well as Sydney Swans star Paddy McCartin's troubling concussion, Clarkson said the league had inadvertently painted itself into a corner. Merrett's suspension was ultimately upheld by the tribunal.

He also referred to Hawthorn's Will Day being suspended for a dangerous tackle in round four as another example where he felt the AFL hadn't found the right balance between protecting the head and rewarding a well-executed tackle. Clarkson pointed out that players are trained to pin both arms in a tackle so the ball cannot come free - something at odds with the league's efforts to stop unnecessary head injuries.

“It’s a difficult one for the game, you’ve got these issues around concussion that they obviously need to be very, very mindful of, but we can’t lose sight of the fact of just how difficult our game is,” Clarkson said. “In some of these incidents – the Will Day one from Hawthorn, he was just in the process of tackling a player, and if you’re tackling you’re sometimes going to lose balance.

“The whole idea of tackling is to actually pin their arms so they can’t dispose of the football, because the ball is in their hands. So you want to pin the arms but if you pin their arms, there’s going to be a risk there if they fall to the ground because they lose balance, there’s sometimes going to be head contact with the ground.

“It’s nearly to the point where we’re going to say you can’t even tackle the arms now, because everyone who gets tackled and their arms pinned, they’re at risk of hitting their head on the ground.”

AFL coaches stumped over tackling interpretation

The four-time premiership coach said it was a different issue to the league's similar attempts to get sling tackles out of the game. Players will give up a free kick as well as be at risk of suspension for any tackle in which a player is seen to be thrown to the ground.

Nevertheless, Clarkson pondered whether or not the Kangaroos would have to change their training habits as a result, and whether other clubs would follow suit.

“It’s an enormous dilemma for the players and coaches just on how to go about it, because at the minute, we’re having three (suspensions) a week,” he said. “It was very definitive what it looked like when there was two motions, grabbing a player and then slinging him, now these are just motions of actually tackling the player.

“80 per cent of the time the player gets away with it because the player doesn’t fall over and hit his head, 20 per cent of the time or less than the player is at significant risk, that’s going to be a challenge for everyone in the game.”

Gold Coast coach Stuart Dew and Sydney counterpart John Longmire have already told their players to refrain from taking their opponent to ground in tackles.

"It's almost at that point, isn't it, that if you choose to take a player to ground, if they hit their head, you're putting yourself at risk," Dew told Fox Footy.

"Which I think, by the way, is the right way to go, I think we need to protect the head as much as possible.

"So I think we do need to adjust our coaching, and there's far too many (dangerous tackles) in the first five rounds."

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