Jon Ralph: Smother rule ‘rich in symbolism’, but won’t reduce concussions

The AFL’s new regulations around players launching through the air - such as Brayden Maynard did last year when he concussed Angus Brayshaw - have been designed to protect players. JON RALPH writes it’s all bark and no bite.

The AFL Commission’s expected approval on Monday of the Brayden Maynard smother rule is rich in symbolism but does very little to protect players on a weekly basis.

The Maynard rule will tighten the smother rule to ensure the next player to jump off the ground in an attempt to smother will be suspended if they do not show “reasonable” care to minimise contact.

The issue is that the Maynard-Brayshaw incident was unprecedented, such an unusual act that no one could recall a similar incident.

And Maynard would likely do the exact same thing in the circumstances next time - try to smother, then turn his body to protect himself mid-air against an advancing player.

So while he would be suspended in 2024, the league isn’t changing a rule that is likely to alter player behaviour or even safeguard Brayshaw next time.

It’s hard to mandate against freak occurrences, even if the AFL believes the rule will mean players jumping off the ground in all circumstances will now be more aware of their duty of care..

The Commission meeting comes in a pre-season where the spotlight has been on player concussions amid a flurry of intra-club clashes and match simulation sessions.

Brayden Maynard jumps into Angus Brayshaw in 2023. Picture: Fox Sports

On Thursday, Dogs wingman Bailey Williams was added to the concussion protocols after a head clash the previous week with draftee Aiden O’Driscoll so sickening the intra-club clash was immediately cancelled.

The concussed O’Driscoll has thankfully avoided a fractured skull and been cleared of damage to his ear after specialist advice and joined his teammates on a Queensland camp midweek.

But despite the recommendations of a Victorian coroner that AFL clubs should reduce their limit the number of contact training sessions, instead teams are frantically swatting for season 2024 with some level of contact and match sim in nearly every session.

It is the AFL’s version of whack-a-mole in a fight against concussion it must feel it cannot win.

Fix the Maynard loophole then be confronted with a new concussion challenge in a summer where observers believe 15 players have already been concussed.

Victorian state coroner John Cain made a series of recommendations in the Shane Tuck case, including limiting the number of contact training sessions before and during AFL seasons.

In NFL pre-season training camps last year amid the spectre of CTE, tackling was all but eradicated, with strict rules in season around when players can tackle during training or even wear pads.

The Carolina Panthers issued a pre-season edict that no player could be bumped or tackled to the ground.

Richmond’s intraclub match on Wednesday night at Punt Road was a stark reminder why AFL clubs would push back hard on any tackling limitation.

Adem Yze has a stack of hard-nut mids but the new-look forward line looks all over the shop as Noah Balta and Jacob Koschitkze try to build synergy ahead of the ball.

Yze will need every moment of match sim leading into pre-season games against Melbourne and Collingwood to attempt to bridge the gap on sides like Collingwood and Brisbane which execute on-field tactics like finely oiled machines.

Angus Brayshaw is tended to after the incident during last year’s qualifying final against Collingwood. Picture: Michael Klein.

Richmond takes on Damien Hardwick’s Gold Coast (away) in zero round, then preliminary finalist Carlton five days later in round 1 so can scarcely ease into the season.

Tell Yze his players can’t tackle or play contact match sim and he would ask how they get better?

And yet they are the difficult questions the AFL will have to answer in coming years amid a welter of class actions and individual lawsuits.

Did we do everything not only in season but over summer to reduce the concussive and sub-concussive hits that lead to head trauma?

The AFL must respond by law to the coroner so is prepared to review the levels of contact in pre-season training but changes would only be made for next off-season.

One welcome change to be rubber stamped on Monday with more consequences than the Maynard Rule might be dubbed Lizard’s rule.

The league will tighten MRO protocols on chase-down tackles after Dan Butler was suspended for a tackle that saw Nick Blakey’s head collide with the turf.

Butler was suspended amid outcry then freed to play after the tribunal overturned the decision, with Jason Dunstall among many who believed Butler tried to turn Blakey in the tackle.

So players will have to adjust their techniques and provide even greater duty of care - as impossible as that might be - when they have their opponent dead to rights in a tackle.

Players and clubs will harrumph and complain but will also believe the league has their greater good at heart with a change.

Would they agree to a summer change similar to the NFL where in some sessions tackles are replaced by a literal game of tag?

That is up to AFL officials Laura Kane and Andrew Dillon to one day work through as they continually put out spotfires over concussion management, only to see new fronts emerge by the day.

Originally published as Jon Ralph: Smother rule ‘rich in symbolism’, but won’t reduce concussions