Head-high free kick furore: Unfair to point the finger at Lindsay Thomas

IF footy fans were looking for someone to direct their anger at over the milking of head-high free kicks, they picked the wrong bloke in Lindsay Thomas. SEE THE STATS

Heath Grundy of the Swans is penalised for this high tackle on Lindsay Thomas of the Kangaroos during the Round 10 AFL match between the Sydney Swans and the North Melbourne Kangaroos at the Sydney Cricket Ground in Sydney, Friday, May 27, 2016. (AAP Image/Dean Lewins) NO ARCHIVING, EDITORIAL USE ONLY

IF footy fans were looking for this year’s poster boy for directing their anger at over the milking of head-high free kicks, they picked the wrong bloke in Lindsay Thomas.

For before Friday night’s controversy, Thomas had received only TWO free kicks this season for high tackles.

And even if you added in the TWO frees he got against Sydney — both ticked off on Saturday as correct decisions by the AFL umpiring department — that puts him only equal 25th in the AFL for high frees in 2016.

Let’s not kid ourselves, Thomas does try to give the umpires a helping hand in making certain decisions, but he does that to the letter of the rule as it currently stands.

When this issue was raised last year, and when one rival club staffer tweeted that Thomas would be dining on duck risotto that night, the Kangaroo forward said he had become an easy target.

He said: “I just find it disrespectful ... to be accused of being a ducker, which I know I am not, is disappointing.”

His coach Brad Scott hasn’t always agreed with the way he approaches his football, but now believes Thomas is being criticised for past indiscretions.

He has long insisted the AFL rule makers of the game should be questioned far more than the players who have adapted their games around the current interpretation.

Lindsay Thomas received two head high free kicks on Friday night. Picture: AAP

There is little doubt Scott’s brother would agree with him.

For Geelong’s Joel Selwood cops as much ire as Thomas for his ability to draw free kicks within the rules of the game — even if AFL great Dermott Brereton questioned whether that is within the spirit of the game.

Selwood has had 12 head-high frees this season, five fewer than the current AFL leaders, Brisbane’s Allen Christensen and Bulldog Toby McLean.

But even though Brad Scott and John Longmire have called on the AFL Laws of the Game committee to review the interpretation at the end of the year, the AFL is in a bind, according to its football operations manager Mark Evans.

They need to tread cautiously in trying to placate a public frustrated by players lowering their knees, raising their arms or even ducking or lowering their bodies.

Joel Selwood has 12 head-high frees this season. Picture: Getty Images

For in an age where the head is sacrosanct, and where the AFL is doing everything in its power to limit concussions and head knocks, any change of interpretation must be treated with caution.

So what we don’t need is for headquarters to bring in a ‘rule of the week’ tightening up for Round 11, 2016.

Better to let the season runs its course and then undertake a forensic examination of the impact of tightening up the head-high rule.

In the meantime, fans also needs to remember it’s not just Lindsay Thomas and Joel Selwood. Someone from your club is almost certainly doing it, too.

FREE KICKS FOR HIGH TACKLES

1. Allen Christensen (Brisbane Lions) 17*

2. Toby McLean (Western Bulldogs) 17

3. George Hewett (Sydney) 13

4. Anthony Miles (Richmond) 12

5. Joel Selwood (Geelong) 12

6. Jack Ziebell (North Melbourne) 9

7. James Sicily (Hawthorn) 8

8. Luke Parker (Sydney) 8

9. Luke Shuey (West Coast) 8

10. Tom Lynch (Adelaide) 7

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25. Lindsay Thomas (North Melbourne) 4

* Stats after Friday night’s game

SOURCE: Champion Data