Stop rewarding the Selwood roll to draw free kicks: Clarkson
Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson has called on the AFL to stop paying free kicks to players who drop their knees or roll their shoulders to draw a free kick.
The premiership coach said it was time umpires stopped paying free kicks for head high contact to Geelong's Joel Selwood if he rolled his shoulders to drag the tackler's shoulders high.
Geelong's Joel Selwood draws a free kick from Hawthorn's Ryan Burton.
Photo: AAP''If we're actually fair dinkum about head injuries then we shouldn't be providing extra protection to someone who contributes to the high contact,'' Clarkson said on Friday morning.
''All we're doing is encouraging more and more players to use that tactic.''
Selwood's motion in the first quarter of the Easter Monday clash sparked debate when he drew a free kick and subsequently scored a goal.
Clarkson conceded that the Hawks' small forward Paul Puopolo also used the tactic and said his comments were due to his increasing concern about concussion.
''If we want to do something about concussion we should be policing the game in a manner that dropping the knees, shrugging the shoulders, raising the arm, ducking the head ... we could get it out of the game really quickly if we're fair dinkum about it,'' Clarkson said.
More to come