It should be the bump that gets the ban from the AFL, not Taylor Walker.

ADELAIDE’S Taylor Walker should not have been suspended for his legal bump on Geelong’s Zach Tuohy - but the big picture is that it’s time to outlaw the bump from Australian football.

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“TEX is lucky that guy’s tough.”

Footballers know their opponents. Chad Cornes was talking about Zach Tuohy, the Geelong defender who Taylor Walker had just flattened with a perfect hip and shoulder bump.

Well, perfect except that somehow contact was made with Tuohy’s head, which left the Irishman flat on his back struggling to get up.

But he did get up. There’s something of the warrior instinct in those Irish footballers. Gaelic football on which Tuohy was raised in County Laois is not a particularly violent game - they’ve had enough sectarian violence over the course of their country’s history - but they are fierce competitors.

And they’re tough. Tuohy came off, had some blood cleaned up then went back on and played the game out.

In the meantime, Walker was reported then subsequently suspended for a week - for what five years ago would have been described as a legal bump. Had Tuohy stayed on the ground and milked the bump for everything he could, Walker’s suspension would have been a couple of weeks longer.

The comparison between Tuohy’s reaction to a solid bump and his captain, Joel Selwood’s Neymar-like impersonation when Bryce Gibbs made slight contact, should embarrass the Geelong skipper.

Crows coach Don Pyke captain Taylor Walker. Picture: Sarah Reed

Gibbs was cited by the match review officer and fined $2000, but sanity prevailed when Gibbs appealed against the penalty and the charge was thrown out.

The perplexing thing about Joel Selwood is that he is a great player. He’s tough and courageous as well, but he has a bad habit of exaggerating contact in the attempt to win a free kick. His reputation for such actions threatens to sully what can only be described as a magnificent career.

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Of course Walker was suspended. He doesn’t play for a Victorian team and he’s not Buddy Franklin. However that wasn’t enough for some.

Paul Roos, one of the game’s greats blasted the match review officer’s decision as being far too lenient.

“The most mind-boggling decision Michael Christian (the MRO) has made all year”, said Roos. That is a massive over-reaction from Roos.

Under the laws, you are still allowed to bump a player. Walker did not raise his elbow, his feet did not leave the ground and the ball was within five metres.

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He intended to bump Tuohy but he did not intend to make contact with his head, which is probably why the charge was graded as careless rather than intentional.

There is only one solution to the drama that surrounds a bump. The AFL must now outlaw a front-on bump.

It is ridiculous that the same action can result in so many different outcomes. If Tuohy had jumped straight to his feet, Walker would not have been reported. Had he stayed on the ground longer, the suspension would have been greater.

If no contact was made with the head but a more serious injury like a cracked sternum resulted, it’s likely Walker would also have escaped suspension.

It’s all too confusing. As it continues to tinker with the game, the AFL has consistently ignored the most obvious solution to that confusion.

It’s legal under the laws of the game to bump but players are continually suspended for executing it. Ban it! A perfect hip and shoulder bump may satisfy some fans’ lust for primordial violence but it adds nothing to the game.

Every footballer has at some stage or other been on the wrong end of an old-fashioned shirt-front. It’s a sickening collision that the AFL has been so desperate to avoid in recent years. Avoid but not out-law!

The old-time commentators used to go into raptures whenever anyone was flattened by an opponent whose eyes were not on the ball.

However, the plaudits should have been for the man who kept his eye on the ball and not the one who lacked the courage to win it and instead waited to prey on the man.

The classic example of that courage last week was the contest between Geelong’s Mark Blicavs and Adelaide’s Hugh Greenwood.

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Both players, coming from opposite directions, kept their eyes on the ball. Neither wavered and the inevitable collision was brutal. It could have been catastrophic but both players eventually got to their feet, their reputation for football courage further enhanced.

Significantly, all coaches today instruct their players to tackle and not bump. It’s too easy to bounce off a player, or for that player to evade the bump.

A ban on the frontal bump would not be difficult to umpire - after all they have to decide on what is a push in the back.

It shouldn’t take the example of that tough Irishman, who incidentally kicks the ball better than most Aussies, to shame us into action. Ban the bump now. The game will be better off without it.