AFL boss Gillon McLachlan slams players for ‘putting themselves in harm’s way’

The AFL’s most contentious rule has caused serious uproar and now the boss has weighed into the debate and torched the players.

AFL boss slams players exploiting rules

The AFL’s most contentious rule has come to a head.

All season long debate has erupted over the officiating of the head-high rule with Collingwood’s Jack Ginnivan at the centre of it all.

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The Pies forward has exploited the ruling by dropping at the knees and lifting an arm up to ensure the opposing player’s arms in a tackle slide up and around his neck.

In the early rounds of the season Ginnivan received countless free kicks, but the league shifted the ruling and in recent weeks the same decisions haven’t received the whistle.

It’s left fans and footy experts scratching their heads with many believing the onus should lie with the tackling players to judge their approach better.

On Tuesday the AFL issued a warning to all clubs that any player who ducks, drops or shrugs into a tackle to draw high contact will not receive a free kick and will instead be told to play on.

Former West Coast Eagles player Will Schofield says he’s more confused now after being asked about the changing of the rule.

“I’m not happy because these are moving objects, there’s lot of decisions being made at the same time and we’re asking umpires now to make further interpretations into the rule,” he said on Fox Footy’s AFL Tonight.

“I don’t know if you can assess in the heat of the moment what a player is trying to do. Some of these examples look like players trying to draw a high tackle but maybe it’s on the tackler just as much to lay a better tackle.

“Some of them are just lazy tackles and the AFL are saying that’s now not a free kick. I’m more confused than I was at the start of the day.”

"I don't know if you can assess in the heat of the moment what a player's trying to do."

.@WillSchofield is not happy with the change in high-contact rules

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— Fox Footy (@FOXFOOTY) July 19, 2022

But as the debate rages on, AFL boss Gillon McLachlan broached the subject and slammed players for “exploiting” the umpiring.

McLachlan said the rule remained the same but the league had implemented a renewed focus surrounding the officiating.

“It’s the same rule, clarified,” he said on AFL 360.

“I think it’s been made very clear that if you contribute to the high contact – you duck, you raise your arms or drop your knees – if you haven’t had prior then you’re not going to get holding the ball and it’s a ball up and if you’ve had prior and you’re tackled that’s holding the ball.

“It’s been like that, but the clarity hopefully is there.”

McLachlan acknowledged that players and coaches are always going to try and find loopholes to use to their advantage, but he condemned players for trying to seek out head-high contact.

“I don’t like it,” he said.

“I don’t like the exploitation of the rule and I don’t like that – the rule is there to protect players’ heads – they are actually putting themselves in harm’s way.

“The secondary part is just as bad as the first.”

No free kick here. (Photo by Mark Brake/Getty Images)

Port Adelaide 300-gamer Kane Cornes slammed the AFL for changing its interpretation of the rule mid-season.

“We’re the only league in the world that changes its interpretation mid-year and doesn’t tell the fans,” he said on Channel 9’s Sunday Footy Show.

“How can you have a competition that pays this for two thirds of the season and then all of sudden decides, ‘Nah, that’s not a free kick anymore’.

“I just find it really frustrating that as a league we change interpretations — we won’t tell anyone — just because it’s in the news, he doesn’t get them.”

Collingwood captain Scott Pendlebury, Fremantle’s Michael Walters, West Coast star Liam Ryan and Demon Kysaiah Pickett were all paid high tackle free kicks on the weekend, despite Ginnivan being denied in a similar situation.

“Just because Scott Pendlebury’s a star player and a good bloke, he ducks into a free kick and he gets it, whereas Jack Ginnivan doesn’t,” Cornes continued.

“The confusion around this rule continues to boggle the mind. It’s just not good enough.

“I just think the AFL needs to clear this up once again and alert the fans to the way it’s going to be interpreted.”