Sling tackle crackdown a tough issue to solve, says Hawk

Hawthorn player Conor Nash believes the AFL faces a tough task finding a way to get head knocks arising from tackles out of the game completely.

Conor Nash of the Hawks and Tom Green of the Giants do battle during Gather Round in Adelaide last week. (Photo by Sarah Reed/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

HAWTHORN player Conor Nash believes the game faces a difficult task finding the right balance between protecting players from head knocks in tackles, but giving leeway to players for incidents that may be unavoidable.

The Irishman, who also has a strong background in rugby union before joining the Hawks in 2017, warned there will be plenty more incidents where players perform a tackle and inadvertently cause their opponent’s head to hit the ground.

Fellow Hawk Will Day will miss Sunday’s clash with Adelaide at UTAS Stadium as he serves the final week of a two-game suspension for a sling tackle on Geelong’s Brad Close.

Essendon’s Zach Merrett and Collingwood’s Taylor Adams have also been suspended for dangerous tackles and will miss the ANZAC Day blockbuster.

Nash admitted he’s at a loss to suggest what the solution to the issue is, and expects the crackdown to continue for some time.

“I don’t think it will ever sort itself out. I’m not sure if any rules can be brought in to really change it,” he said.

“It’s such a hard one because none of the guys mean to cause injury. We’re told to tackle with intent and ferocity, not to slam someone’s head on the ground.

“It gets to the stage of being two tackles. One way is to wrap them up and stay on your feet, but the second one where you’re not taking any of the arms but hitting them hard and low around the hips.

“I think guys know when they have an arm pinned and it will click in their mind now to be a bit safer. You’ll probably see them wrap one arm, if they have an arm pinned too, wrap one arm and pull them over themselves probably.

“But we won’t see the end of it, there’ll be more tackles like this to come.”

The 24-year-old, who was offered an Academy contract by rugby union club Leinster before choosing to play AFL, said the code might adopt some tackling techniques from the 15-man game.

“I think you might see more guys do a choke tackle like in rugby, where they just haul them up and keep them off the deck,” he said.

“That’s probably what will happen going forward, but we’ll see if it can work itself out.

“It’s going to be a case-by-case (situation). It’s hard because you don’t want to be looking at the outcome and whether the player walks away or not, you want to just pin the action.

“I’m not sure where it’s going to go, but it’s certainly going to be a tackle in the game for a long time to come.”

Ryan is entering Sunday’s clash on the back of arguably the best game of his 55-game career thus far in Hawthorn’s heartbreaking two-point loss to GWS during ‘Gather Round’.

Spending more time in the midfield this season, Ryan picked up 31 disposals, but his most impressive stats were 18 contested possessions and nine tackles.

A versatile player who has filled a number of positions, Nash said he’s relishing a chance to focus mainly on being an inside midfielder.

“I’d definitely say it (Giants performance) was one of my better ones. Certainly stats wise it would say it was my best, and it was one of the better influences I’ve had on a game,” he said.

“I’m getting more midfield time and trying to be that physical presence inside, that was a key focus, then in the second half trying to do a job on Tom Green because he had such a big influence in the first half.

“It’s funny, you have a game like that and you don’t think you did anything different, but there’s little things I’ve even picked up today (Tuesday) during review.

“I play inside and hop out onto the wing for a few minutes every quarter. It’s important because we have so many guys in the midfield able to play various positions.

“There’s a lot to be said about knowing what my specific goal is now, and that is to be a physical and contested presence inside. I

“You know what your one wood is, and I make sure I bring that every week.”

Nash said the Hawks are hellbent on removing the big lapses in games that have denied them victories.

Although Harry Himmelberg’s great mark and goal late won the game for the Giants, it was a huge step forward after a horrid second half against Geelong.

Nash added they take heart from the strong start to the season by Adelaide, also a very young squad.

“We did a lot right and if we can lose in the right fashion, if there is such a thing, that was it on the weekend,” he said.

“It took something pretty special from them with that mark at the end of the game to win. “Against Essendon and Geelong we rolled over, so it was good to fight back and show persistence.

“After Geelong we put more focus on the mental side of things, that when things aren’t going well we go away from the simple things.

“Geelong didn’t do anything extraordinary. Yes, they lifted a bit, but when they got a run on instead of stopping it at maybe three or four goals, we got down on ourselves and let them run over the top of us in the mental space.

“To see Adelaide and where they’ve come from, it shows when a young team gets a couple of wins they gain confidence.

“You tell a young fellas he’s great, and he’ll believe it’s true. We just know it will turn eventually, we’ll keep putting the right processes in place to try and get a win.”

Originally published as Sling tackle crackdown a tough issue to solve, says Hawk