Several head-high bumps created headlines in Round 1, suggesting to David King that the game has failed to move forward when it comes to protecting the head.
Kysaiah Pickett launched at Bailey Smith in Melbourne’s 50-point win over the Western Bulldogs, collecting the 22-year-old in the head with a sickening hit.
He was handed a two-game suspension by Match Review Officer Michael Christian, while Lance Franklin was banned for one match for a head-high bump on Sun Sam Collins. Both Smith and Collins played out their respective games.
Both incidents saw players run past the football and elect to bump. While Franklin’s act was deemed careless, King called it “absolutely intentional”.
“This guy can thread the eye of a needle, he knows where the drop of the ball is going to be, he knows where to place his body, and the only time he has no idea what he’s doing is when he nails someone with an elbow in the head,” the former North Melbourne star told SEN’s Whateley.
“With a clear tuck of the left arm into his side to make perfect contact with the head, I don’t wear that. I think it’s absolutely intentional.
“Take Lance’s name out of it. That action to go past the footy and execute a bump to the head is a starting point of two weeks. If you knock a player out, it’s elevated from there. I just can’t accept how we’re still saying that’s a one-week suspension, I can’t have that.”
A knock from Crow Shane McAdam was the other from the weekend to be heavily scrutinised, with GWS’ Jacob Wehr the victim of the massive hit. McAdam is yet to learn his MRO fate.
But in the current climate of concussions threatening the fabric of the game, King can’t fathom the trio’s actions from the weekend in calling for harsher punishments.
“The other two (Pickett and McAdam) are rugby league-type hits. They are set and drive and drill,” King continued.
“They’ve got no idea what the outcome of those hits are going to be at the start of their move… their decision at the start of that move is to nail the opposition player in the head.
“So how the hell are we at two weeks? If we’re saying, ‘we’re going to do everything we can to protect the head…’ we’ve gone nowhere with this and I am sick of talking about it.”
Christian’s job as MRO is essentially a box-ticking one, able to hand out suspensions depending on whether the action was intentional or careless, the degree of impact and where to the body it was.
But King says Pickett’s act should be an instant three-game suspension. Had Smith not been fine to play on, the dual-premiership Kangaroo would hope to see the ban subsequently rise.
“The Pickett suspension, for that action, starts at three (weeks) and elevates as to the damage afterwards,” King added.
“The other one was just as bad, McAdam’s. We’ve absolutely got to stamp it out.
“I don’t care that he’s a good small forward. That action is the reason we’ve got post-football trauma everywhere.”
The AFL is facing legal action from more than 60 former players on the subject of concussions, while a second class action is set to be filed that could more than 200 players.