AFL prepared to refine high tackle definition as coaches want league to discourage serial offenders

THE AFL says it is prepared to refine the definition of a high tackle as a chorus of coaches call on the league to discourage serial duckers.

Lindsay Thomas has come under fire this week for his drawing of high free kicks.

THE AFL says it is prepared to refine the definition of a high tackle as a chorus of coaches call on the league to discourage serial duckers.

But AFL football operations boss Mark Evans says the league will never reward players for lazy tackles that start high then are pushed even higher by a shrug or duck.

Evans revealed he had asked clubs and the league’s Laws of the Game committee to consider tackling guidelines with a view to a future tweak.

Under current rules AFL umpires are told to reward players with a high free kick even if a player deliberately ducks into a tackle or shrugs their arms to ensure the tackle raises up.

Lindsay Thomas has come under fire this week for his drawing of high free kicks.

Brisbane midfielder Allen Christensen has been awarded a league-high 58 high free kicks since the start of 2015 through a deliberate — and legal — tactic.

North Melbourne coach Brad Scott said this week his club decided “if you can’t beat them, join them” after giving away multiple high contact free kicks to West Coast and now trained to draw those same frees.

Evans said if a duck or shrug caused a tackler’s textbook tackle to cause only incidental contact, it could in future be called play on.

“I have put the challenge to clubs and the laws of the game committee to see if they feel there is a better definition than we have got at the moment,’’ he said.

“If the tackler starts a pretty sloppy, forceful, vigorous tackle and starts it high up in the tackling zone there is a very good chance it will career forcefully into someone’s head and jaw and we don’t want to incentivise that.

“Whatever system we have in the future I can’t imagine us allowing a sloppy forceful tackle that is starting high in the tackle zone and is likely to go further up. I am not sure we will ever encourage that.”

Evans told SEN Radio the AFL was buoyed by rule changes which removed prior opportunity for a player bending at the waist and driving into a stationary opponent.

Luke Shuey lifts his arm to draw a high free kick. Picture: Daniel Wilkins

“We see an occasion free kick for that — we might see two or three or four frees for the year so that’s been very good,” he said.

“As we were doing that and looking at defining players who duck into contact we could make it easy to differentiate between players who start with their head in a high position and duck it down into a low position.

“For all of the other examples where people felt players were drawing head high contact there is balance between their movement and the tackler.”

Evans said he was open to changes to AFL list formation that could see the abolition of the rookie list and all players available for senior action.

“Our view is that we’re actually open to looking at it, particularly if it provides a more fluent and flexible structure.”

Originally published as AFL prepared to refine high tackle definition as coaches want league to discourage serial offenders