AFL Players Association president Patrick Dangerfield has doubled down on his concern with the interpretation of the sliding rule, saying he feels players are indeed milking it for free kicks.
Dangerfield was annoyed by a below the knees contact free kick paid during the West Coast versus Collingwood match on Saturday night, tweeting that it was an “absolute disgrace”.
The Geelong midfielder told SEN’s Whateley that the rule goes against everything players are taught at grassroots level.
“The ethos of the game is to go and get the footy,” Dangerfield said.
“As a junior playing footy, you’re taught to put your head over the ball because if you do, you’ll be protected by the umpire. At the moment, that clearly isn’t happening.
“I have no issue with when there’s a significant sliding action where there is the real potential for the result to be a broken leg or serious injury.
“I understand that contact below the knees and the Gary Rohan one is a perfect example of that.
“But when it becomes so consistent that players putting their head over the ball, Jack Billings and Jamie Cripps I think are examples, where it’s in their area and then you’ve got players embellishing contact, it just flies in the face of what we’ve been taught as youngsters.”
Dangerfield confirmed the majority of players milk for free kicks, particularly with this one.
“Absolutely (players are milking the free kick). We all do it. I don’t think there’d be too many players where there’s an opportunity for a free kick and we don’t take the opportunity,” he said.
“I just think we need to reward the ball players more than we currently are.
“It is really hard to tell what’s forceful and what’s not in a split second so it’s a tough job for the umpires, but that’s what they’re paid to do. That’s their job in the game.”
See the original incident and Dangerfield’s tweets below:
Contact below the knees.. absolute disgrace. #AFLPiesEagles
— Patrick Dangerfield (@dangerfield35) April 6, 2019
Don’t put your head over the ball kids. Lower and harder... na not anymore. https://t.co/SImDGIrWmG
— Patrick Dangerfield (@dangerfield35) April 6, 2019
