AFL coaches united in declaring league-wide confusion after three-game tackling suspensions

[Pelican Press 0]

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AFL coaches ******* in declaring league-wide confusion after three-game tackling suspensions

Brisbane coach Chris Fagan says he won’t change how he coaches his players to tackle “for the time being” despite the “confusion” around a three-game ban for Lions star Charlie Cameron.

His stance comes as Richmond coach Adem Yze declared he might seek help from the Melbourne Storm to find tackling techniques that won’t end with suspensions.

The AFLPA declared players were “genuinely confused” after lengthy bans were handed to Cameron and GWS tagger Toby Bedford for tackles that teammates, rivals and now Fagan said was a “perfectly *********” tackle.

Speaking on Thursday morning, ahead of Cameron’s appeal, Fagan said the outcry in the wake of the bans confirmed that confusion was the overwhelming feeling at clubland and decisions made in “an absolute split second” were being overly scrutinised by the match review officer and turned into “something ******* than it actually is”.

“I would just say that you can see by the reaction over the last 48, 72 hours that there’s a lot of confusion within playing ranks and within coaching ranks. Coaches, we don’t know how to coach it,” he said.

“It’s difficult because we all sit there and watch the game … you watch a bloke, if he doesn’t go hard at the tackle or whatever, we’re critical of them. Tackle making and tackle-breaking are incredibly important parts of our game and they happen in an absolute split second.

“And then we sit back with the benefit of slow-motion replays and break it all down and turn it into something ******* than it actually is in my opinion. There’s a lot of pressure on players and I don’t want my blokes going out there second-guessing tackles.”

Fagan said he wouldn’t be changing anything “for the time being” but conceded his hand could be forced.

“I don’t want my guys corralling and not putting the right amount of pressure on the opposition with the ball. So, for the time being, we won’t be changing anything,” he said.

“But what happened on the weekend is a little bit more of a shockwave I guess and we’ve got to sort of see how this all ends up and adjust our coaching going forward.”

The Tigers have lost midfield star Tim Taranto to concussion as a result of the Bedford tackle and Yze said he backed the AFL stance to protect the head.

But he said he would be keen to reach out to NRL coaches to help his players adjust to new demands that went against “the habits we had as kids”.

Camera IconDaniel Rioli of the Tigers is tackled by Brent Daniels of the Giants. Credit: Michael Willson/AFL Photos/AFL Photos via Getty Images

“We might have to look at getting NRL coaches in here to help us with our technique … they’re going through the same thing, they’re protecting the head,” he said.

“We’ve got a boxing coach that has done some martial arts, and he’s had a discussion with me this morning around some of that technique, and can we not drive and fall with them, can we drop our knees, all those sorts of things.

“We’ve got to look at all those avenues because we’ve got habits we’ve had as kids. It was all about pinning the arms and then taking to ground, and right now, if that’s going to be a risk, we need to change the way we think about it and the way we train it.

“We’ve just got to protect the head, and obviously Tim’s going to miss a game. Whether the sanction is too big or not the right sanction (is a question), but the fact he hit his head and Tim’s going to miss a game, you get where they’re coming from.”

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