David King has called for the AFL Tribunal to come down hard on Richmond defender Nathan Broad.
Broad will face the Tribunal after his dangerous tackle on Adelaide’s Patrick Parnell was graded as careless, high contact and severe impact by MRO Michael Christian.
Given the Crow was knocked out cold as a result of the tackle, King believes the Tiger should receive a suspension of six or more weeks, describing the act as both deliberate and intending to inflict maximum damage.
“I’m seriously interested in how many weeks they go for,” King told SEN Whateley.
“I’m not happy with five (weeks), I think it’s six plus.
“This act, can we step through the difference between this and the bump?
“Most players go in just to make contact, they don’t necessarily go to hit the head and it’s part of our game.
“So to is tackling, but when you grab an arm and you know you’ve got that player – and often they’re light bodies – Patty Parnell is a light body.
“This is happening across the country, big kids tackling little kids, as soon as you know you’re slinging, you have a level of certainty of where the head is.
“You have got his whole frame in a wrap, including his arm, and when you give you the extra sauce at the end and really spin and rip that body with full force knowing the head is hitting the ground … these guys know, I won’t hear that they don’t know (the head is hitting the ground).
“It’s a deliberate act to inflict maximum damage.”
King believes a suspension of six or more weeks would take the sling tackle out of the game and send a message to the grassroots that such acts aren’t acceptable on the football field.
“Now it is out of your hands, the Tribunal needs to influence and impact maximum damage,” King said.
“We’ve stuffed up the bump for three years, we’re still talking about it and still trying to take it out of the game.
“You can take the sling tackle out of the game this week, you can give six weeks and say, ‘If you do this guys, it’s six (weeks)’.
“It’s not, ‘Oh, it’s two, and we’ll find grounds to get you down to one, it’s not severe and you didn’t quite knock him out … thanks for not knocking him out so you get one week’.
“No, the act and the action is incredibly dangerous, we don’t want kids seeing this.
“We don’t want parents deciding whether their kids play footy because of these acts.
“You stamp it out now or you lose the fight … I’m sort of a bit tired about losing this fight, I think it’s time for the AFL to take over.
“Now ask for six weeks, don’t ask for four, if they ask for four, we’ve lost the fight.”
Broad will face the Tribunal on Tuesday evening.
The Tigers next face the Magpies in a blockbuster clash at the MCG on Friday night.