AFL football boss Laura Kane suggests sliding scale move for illegal tackle suspensions after Paul Curtis ban

Amid outrage from players and fans over a three-match ban handed to North Melbourne’s Paul Curtis, the AFL football boss has suggested a possible change.

AFL football boss Laura Kane has raised the idea of a “sliding scale” for contentious tackling suspensions amid extreme criticism of the three-week ban handed to North Melbourne’s Paul Curtis.

Teammate Luke Parker suggested the game had become “touch football” in a social media post in the wake of the ban for what most believed was a well-executed tackle but one that resulted in a concussion for Port Adelaide defender Josh Sinn.

Kane conceded the issue was a “difficult” one to navigate and, while supporting the tribunal decision, said looking at a new option for penalising such incidents was a “worthy discussion”.

“What I’ve reflected on overnight is probably the three weeks being somewhat of a jarring element of this,” Kane said on Wednesday.

The Paul Curtis tackle on Josh Sinn. Picture: James Elsby/AFL Photos via Getty Images

“The discussion that could be had is, is there available to us a sliding scale? And would that frustration, or would that sentiment be there if it was less than three weeks?

“I don’t know, but I think that’s a really worthy discussion to have.”

Kane said the “matrix” used to determine suspensions had “served us well” because the aim was to make the game safer.

“We’ve been really clear in our efforts to make the game safer, so that part is really clear,” she told SEN.

“The players and the clubs have done a terrific job at adjusting technique and style and adjusting how they make those split-second decisions, so that part we know is possible.

“It’s not to minimise the outcome, it’s to acknowledge that sometimes we are dealing with moments in time and decisions that you make. Now, I’m mindful that there’s still an appeal available here, so going into the details of this case are tricky.

AFL football boss Laura Kane said introducing a ‘sliding scale’ for tackling suspensions was a ‘worthy discussion’. Picture: Morgan Hancock/AFL Photos/via Getty Images

“But just cases generally, maybe there is some discussion to be had around if the technique looks, sounds and feels like this, maybe it’s not three weeks, but it’s certainly not meant to move away from our position of wanting to make the game safer.”

Kane said rundown tackles like the one executed by Curtis were “great elements of our game” but urged caution.

“It is a great part of our game, and we know that coaches still want that tackle to be laid, and they want it to be laid with some level of force because they want to win the ball,” she said.

“What we’re dealing with, we’re in the margins, and that’s hard, that is really, really hard.”

Kane said the league was “loathe” to use a red card system, as advocated by AFL legend Leigh Matthew after Geelong’s Gryan Miers was knocked out by Hawthorn’s Conor Nash, who copped a four-week suspension

“I’ve heard the red card quite a few times since being in the AFL,” she said.

The incident between Conor Nash and Gryan Miers.

“I understand it, and I think that to its core, people don’t want to see behaviour that goes outside of the lines, and people don’t want to see behaviour that’s really poor, snap judgments and so on.

“So that part is good, that’s a noble cause, we want to see that eradicated and a punishment immediately.

“I’d heard Leigh’s initial positioning around red cards and we’d been loathe to go there with umpiring, but I understand the review (system giving out reds).

“It’s not something we’ve looked at in terms of implementing, but it’s certainly something we’ve listened to feedback on.”

Originally published as AFL football boss Laura Kane suggests sliding scale move for illegal tackle suspensions after Paul Curtis ban