The tackle Taylor Walker applied to Steven Morris last weekend has been almost universally condemned, and a good thing too.

For some reason we can’t fathom, some people are describing this as a sling tackle. It’s not. It’s a spear tackle. Spear tackles are characterised by the opponent being lifted from the ground and driven forcefully into the ground, more-or-less head first.

The sling tackle is perfectly demonstrated in Jack Trengove’s tackle of Patrick Dangerfield in 2011.

Trengove holds Dangerfield’s arm and then rolls — like a crocodile death roll — so that Dangerfield’s body is dragged over the top of Trengove’s body and into the ground. The effect is similar to those plastic arms used for throwing balls for dogs to chase. The added length of the arm tends to produce a greater acceleration of the object being pulled in a (rough) circular path. This tackle is quite clearly different in form, execution and potential health damage from Walker’s tackle.

In Trengove’s case, the MRP decided, quite wrongly in our opinion, that the injury sustained by Dangerfield when his head hit the ground as part of the tackle made the offence of greater magnitude than, say, Lance Franklin’s tackle last week.

As we’ve plainly spelled out in the title of this post, there is no place for either the sling or the spear tackle in the AFL of the twenty-first century, but please, please, please people — use the correct term.

The release recently of the ‘Buddy Ball’ has AussieRulesBlog rather perplexed.

We understand marketers’ desire to associate Lance Franklin with some saleable merchandise and young fans’ desire to be associated with a charismatic figure. In our own callow youth, we wore the then-fashionable Ron Barassi footy boots in the sincere belief that they imparted magical powers.

‘Buddy’ boots, we wouldn’t have much of a problem with. ‘Buddy’ socks or shorts, even less so. But a Buddy Ball?

Despite the near universal hailing of Franklin, AussieRulesBlog sees at least one serious flaw — his kicking. The huge sweeping arc of his approach and the slicing, glancing contact of his boot on the ball which imparts the famous ‘reverse swing’ on his kicks aren’t techniques we should be lauding to impressionable young boys.

A ‘Gazza’ Ball? No problems. Young Gary runs in straight, kicks straight through the ball — and is a reliable goal kicker.

Franklin himself is never sure where his kicks are going to go. When they’re good, they’re terrifyingly wonderful, but when they’re not, like the little girl down the lane, they’re absolutely awful.

It’s about percentages and repeatability. It’s about reliability in the heat of a close finish with the pressure of expectation weighing heavily. Let’s give our up and coming players a role model whose technique stands up under pressure.