North Melbourne great David King has blasted the AFL in the wake of another round tainted by disturbing head injuries, claiming the governing body "asked for" more carnage by not cracking down hard enough.
Round Eight saw Port Adelaide ruckman Scott Lycett referred directly to the tribunal for an ugly sling tackle on Adelaide youngster Ned McHenry.
Another worrying incident saw GWS forward Jeremy Finlayson strike Essendon's Zach Merrett in the head with an elbow, prompting 1988 Brownlow medallist Gerard Healy to label the move "sloppy" and "dumb" during Fox Footy's coverage.
Despite the fact the AFL introduced a medical substitute and 12-day concussion protocol for the 2021 season - two moves that signalled the league was taking head injuries seriously - King dumped blame on the governing body following Round Eight's head-related incidents.
"The AFL have asked for this. The player behaviour in terms of reports or actions that are outside the code are out of control because everything we've done across the course this season hasn't proven to change player behaviour or be a deterrent in any way, shape or form," King told Fox Footy.
When asked what Lycett should receive for his sling tackle on McHenry, King suggested a minimum of four games.
That's despite the fact that Western Bulldogs defender Hayden Crozier received just one match for his sling tackle on North Melbourne's Jack Mahoney in Round Five of last season.
When champion Hawthorn veteran Shaun Burgoyne escaped with a $1000 fine and no suspension for his sling tackle on Geelong superstar Patrick Dangerfield in Round Two of last season, the AFL made the historic decision to have all future sling tackles cop a ban.
"This is a strong man throwing a small man to the ground in a manner that he wanted to inflict as much pain and as much hurt as he could do. I'm thinking four (matches) minimum," King said of Lycett's sling tackle.
"I'm sick and tired of the concussion discussion when this is one of the primary issues - the sling tackle. You either take a stand or forget the rhetoric, forget all the discussion that goes round in circles.
"Take a stand, clean up the game."
In Round Four of this season, veteran North Melbourne midfielder Ben Cunnington overturned at the tribunal a one-match ban for a bump on Adelaide's Rory Laird, while Round Seven saw Melbourne's Bayley Fritsch have his one-game suspension downgraded to zero games at the tribunal.
Sydney's Paddy McCartin also received just five weeks for his sickening punch to the head of Geelong captain Aaron Black in the VFL, which many experts believe was a light punishment.
Port Adelaide great Kane Cornes said on Nine's Footy Classified ahead of McCartin's tribunal visit that the 2014 No.1 draft pick should receive six to eight weeks for the hit.
King said the benefit of the doubt appeared to lay with the offender and called for the AFL and VFL to start taking greater care of the victim.
"The recent cases - Cunnington getting off and effectively going back to a fine for head contact, you've got McCartin who got handed five weeks, which is a disgrace. You've got Fritsch who got let off for leading with the elbow last week," King said.
"They're all fine lines, but we err on the side of looking after the player, we go from one way back to a fine, we go from two back to one if it's line-ball, three back to two.
"And then you end up here with all these reports still going on. This has been a horrible round of football (for head knocks)."
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from WWOS https://wwos.nine.com.au/afl/news-2021-scott-lycett-sling-tackle-concussion-tribunal-match-review-committee-david-king/85cdae93-c4b6-40c4-b8d9-bd6db0370910
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