Brisbane legend Jonathan Brown has strongly criticised the AFL body for its suspension of Charlie Cameron and Toby Bedford on Sunday, expressing his grave concerns for the “fabric of the game.”
In a year where rules revolving around tackling have quite literally been changed, players have been held to a higher duty of care than ever before when it comes to ensuring accountability on-field with head-high contact.
And with the rise in responsibility has come the rise in bans for players, as more and more contentious punishments are handed down by the AFL.
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Scott struggles with AFL tackle bans | 02:26
Speaking on Monday night to Fox Footy’s On The Couch, Brown was particularly upset by the findings handed down to GWS pocket rocket Toby Bedford, who has initially been suspended for three weeks – with the Giants instantly challenging the decision.
As a champion of the game who endured several concussions during his playing days, Brown’s opinion certainly holds weight in the AFL community – and also given his relationship with cousin Liam Picken, who is suing the AFL in the Supreme Court over his own issues with concussion.
And the views extend well beyond Brown, with two-time Geelong premiership coach Chris Scott speaking earlier in the night to AFL 360 on his views of not just Bedford’s tackle on Tim Taranto, but also Cameron’s on Eagle Liam Duggan.
“The players have a duty of care to be careful in that situation, and I’m seeing a lot of momentum and I’m not seeing much driving from Charlie,” Scott begun by saying.
“If anything, it looks to be as if he’s being pulled to the ground – I’m not here to defend opposition players … I think the outcome is we just don’t want to see players concussed.”
Could Bedford be in MRO trouble? | 00:43
And when asked on his feelings towards Bedford’s tackle, Scott’s feelings were of a similar vein.
“I think the momentum was going one way, and it was very difficult for the tackler to make any other decision. The part that I push back on that I hear quite a bit – particularly from the tribunal – is in that situation, they want the player to release an arm in motion; that’s hard to do without putting yourself at risk.
“I was expecting when I first heard about those tackles to see a sling or a drive into the ground, and I didn’t see that … in fact, it seems to me that the Tribunal and the umpires now are asking to only pin one arm – which I could make a case is dangerous as well.”
Scott’s opinions seemed to align well with his two-time premiership teammate Brown; albeit in a much more reserved manner.
Below is a transcript of the discussion Brown had with On The Couch panellists Ben Dixon and Nathan Buckley:
Jonathan Brown: What has happened to our great game? And I’m alluding to the decisions by the AFL and the MRO to suspend Toby Bedford and Charlie Cameron – we’ll start with the Toby Bedford one of GWS.
It’s just astonishing – I know where we’re going as a game, and we’re trying to protect the head, and we’ve done an amazing job in the last five to ten years of protecting the players out there. But what in the hell, is Toby Bedford meant to do? We are allowed to tackle in our game, all he did was pursue Tim Taranto and tackle him in what has been a legal way for the best part of 100 years.
It’s getting into troubling territory for me, and that’s really concerning – I think we’re now starting to eat into the fabric of the game. Yes, I feel bad for Tim Taranto, we don’t want players to get injured, but we are starting to eat into the fabric of the game Bucks.
Nathan Buckley: You’ve had your fair share of head contact and head knocks as you went along your career. Playing devil’s advocate, why do you feel that way?
I’m of the same mind; I think that we’re trying to legislate against incidental head contact, and we’re not going to eliminate head contact out of the game. You are related to Liam Picken, who’s obviously had issues from head trauma. How do you stand having that opinion about those tackles?
JB: Absolutely, and unfortunately that’s going to be the collateral; it’s a contact sport within the rules and Liam have suffered, no question about that. (An) unbelievably courageous player, but he is one of the unlucky ones who’s suffered from it. That’s going to happen whilst we’re playing contact sport.
We are now at the point where the AFL has done so much – even since Liam retired () – I liken (it) to Formula 1. They’ve made the cars so safe, to go any safer they’d have to say to Max Verstappen: ‘You know what, we’re worried about a couple of corners, so what we’re going to do is put a couple of speed cameras on those corners, and you can’t go over a certain speed limit’. You are eating into the fabric of the game – so that is really where it is.
This is a crossroad moment – what was Toby Bedford meant to do in that scenario?
Ben Dixon: What are we trying to do with the players? When you come in and you don’t kick it that well, they try and change your mechanics which you’ve been doing for 15-16 years – and it takes a year to change your technique; maybe longer.
We’re asking our players to change their techniques of tackling, mid-season, with all the complications and strategies and structures. (It’s) too much to think about – not disrespecting the players in terms of their intelligence of footy IQ, but to ask players mid-tackle to go ‘release’ or ‘drop an arm’.
JB: You know what I’m telling them? I’m telling (Bedford): ‘Mate, don’t pursue it, don’t tackle in that situation – I’d rather have you playing for us instead of missing next three weeks.
Concussion crusaders – be careful what you wish for, be careful what you wish for. If you start likening it to community sports standards. Community sport – getting rid of king hits, abusing umpires, respect – these (tackles) are not situations that are going to be good for community sport. If that was paid down at Croydon where me old man lies, there would be riots. We are heading down the wrong path, we’ve done an amazing job, don’t get me wrong and I want our players to be safe, but I want our game still to be our great game. And if we keep continuing on this path, I’m concerned.
BD: If that filters down to grassroots level and junior football, the game will erode – it’s just impossible to maintain what we’re asking our players to do right now.
‘Massive danger’ in AFL tackle madness | 03:49
Crossing soon after to Herald Sun journalist Jon Ralph in the newsroom, Ralph provided context on part of the reason the AFL has come down harder and harder on head-high contact in recent years.
“Liam Picken has a lawsuit in the Supreme Court against the AFL, Brad Shephard last week the (former) West Coast player put a lawsuit in the Supreme Court over concussions.” Ralph said.
“We have 100 players lining up to try and sue the AFL with a class action; so it’s not theoretical, it’s not concussion campaigners, if we can’t gradually change the face of the game, we have not got a game.
“This may well be overkill, but it’s not just concussion campaigners, this is a real threat to the AFL.”
Source Agencies
