Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge says every AFL club is confused about the league’s dangerous tackle rules and what actions constitute a suspension.
The rule was tightened mid-season after Hawthorn’s Shaun Burgoyne escaped with a fine under the existing interpretation when he slung Geelong star Patrick Dangerfield into the turf in round two.
Three weeks later, under the new rule, Bulldog Hayden Crozier was unsuccessful in challenging a one-week suspension for his dangerous tackle on North Melbourne’s Jack Mahony.
But Sam Powell-Pepper (Port Adelaide) and Luke Dahlhaus (Geelong) were both cleared of wrongdoing by the tribunal this week over similar actions, having initially been offered one-match bans by the match review officer.
Beveridge said the dangerous tackle rule was a “dog’s breakfast” and that clubs and fans were crying out for consistent decision-making by the AFL.
But the 2016 premiership coach has no faith it will be cleared up any time soon.
“There seems to be a shift again in the interpretation and what actually the end result is,” Beveridge said.
“I think every club is just confused.
“The problem is we’ll get to the end of the year and there’ll be a number of reviews and this will be an area.
“But we’ve got to at some point get to the stage where we stop mid-year confusion and making things up on the run, and it’s happening all over again.”
Earlier in August, Beveridge bemoaned widespread confusion around the holding-the-ball rule after it too was tightened mid-season.
He said the Bulldogs stopped addressing holding-the-ball decisions and interpretations with their players because they do not understand what the correct advice is to give.
Now Beveridge feels they have been forced into a similar corner with dangerous tackles.
“You can’t instruct them either way because you’re not sure which way to instruct them,” Beveridge said.
“That’s the shame of it all, that we as coaches have no handle on which way to coach it.
“We keep thinking of the juniors and the leagues that feed our national (competition) and at some point we’ve got to stabilise it.
“It will happen at some point (but) I don’t know when.”
Former Bulldog Dahlhaus is free to play for the Cats against his old side when they meet at Metricon Stadium on Friday night.
