Flexibility required in head contact decisions

The Franklin suspension this week reveals a weakness in the system devised by the AFL to dissuade head-high contact. A comparison of the Franklin-Cousins collision with the Mawell-McGinnity collision earlier in the year reveals at least one important distinction.

Franklin has the merest split second to decide what to do when confronted by Cousins. That he chose the relative gamble of a bump against the more team-oriented, smarter option of a tackle perhaps says more about Hawthorn's season than almost anything else through the home and away rounds.

Maxwell, on the other hand, had many seconds to decide what to do. So many in fact, he decided well in advanace to run directly at McGinnity, who at that stage was pursuing a Collingwood opponent, and give him an old-fashioned shirtfront.

In both cases, the contact to their opponent's head was incidental, but Maxwell's was a calculated and pre-meditated attack on an unwary victim. Franklin and Cousins both responded instinctively, and in fact had little or no time to do any more than that.

So, how does this concern the AFL? Simply, the decision to classify the head as “sacrosanct” leaves no room for the Tribunal or the Appeals Board to assess intent. Reliance on a zero-tolerance approach effectively means that the two incidents are considered equivalent, when virtually any sentient being can see they’re nothing of the sort.