KB wants another rule change to penalise ducking for frees (Fox)

[one-eyed]

AFL Laws of the Game committee member Kevin Bartlett backs a call to ban players ducking head first

    by Bruce Matthews, Gilbert Gardiner
    Herald Sun
    July 30, 2013 12:52PM

FORMER Richmond great Kevin Bartlett has backed suggestions to pay free kicks against players ducking head first into a contest.

The rule change follows a series of incidents, including Friday night when Hawthorn enforcer Jordan Lewis led with his head, his neck buckling upon contact.

Carlton defender Simon White fractured his neck in a VFL match last week, while former Geelong VFL-listed player Casey Tutungi was diagnosed a quadriplegic after an accident playing for South Barwon.

Bartlett agreed with respected Fox Footy's On The Couch panelist Mike Sheahan who said "players need to be protected from themselves".

"Players ducking their heads and initiating contact are not paid free kicks," Bartlett, who sits on the Laws of the Game committee said on SEN Radio this morning.

"But it's a very dangerous act.

"(A) free kick should be paid against a player who tries to draw a free with this dangerous action, is worthy of consideration.

"He (Simon White) was very very lucky it wasn't life changing and he has a neck to waist brace for the next eight weeks.

"The (ducking) rule was brought in to protect players bending over the ball from being hit front on to protect them from injury."

But Carlton defender Zach Tuohy has warned against a move to outlaw players ducking their heads in a contest.

Tuohy described teammate Simon White's fractured neck as an unfortunate accident in what's a tough, demanding sport.

"The worse thing that can happen now is that we look into it too much and start trying to tinker with the game and try to fix this from happening,'' the Blues backman said during recovery at St Kilda seabaths.

"It's a tough one, isn't it? But I think you can probably read a little too much into it. It's a tough physical game we play and players try to wriggle out of tackles, get through tackles. Sometimes these things (injury) happen,'' Tuohy said.

"These things are always going to happen. It was unfortunate what happened to Simon and he's a big loss, but it's all part of the game.''

http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-laws-of-the-game-committee-member-kevin-bartlett-backs-a-call-to-ban-players-ducking-head-first/story-e6frf33l-1226688111281

[Penelope]

morons 

[Yeahright]

Or just tell umpires to get smart and just ignore it (which I reckon they have gotten better at over time). Will be enforced just as well as the sliding rule has been 

[tdy]

I gotta say it is an amazingly reckless act to lead with the head and lots of players are doing it now. 

[Penelope]

because they get rewarded for it.
this mess is of their own making and now they want to complicate it even more.

it's like the old woman who swallowed a fly

[Yeahright]

Gotta bend down and pick the ball up therefore lead with your head so you don't accidently take someones leg or get holding the ball against you for diving on it. Players are going to have to learn how to flick it up with their feet so they don't go near the ground

[Chuck17]

Gotta bend down and pick the ball up therefore lead with your head so you don't accidently take someones leg or get holding the ball against you for diving on it. Players are going to have to learn how to flick it up with their feet so they don't go near the ground

Should just call it soccer

[Smokey]