AFL great Dermott Brereton believes the AFL must stamp out staging for free kicks, describing flopping as a blight on our game.
Staging for free kicks was a topic on the agenda this week following several Round 11 incidents where players drew whistles in an unconventional fashion which resulted in goals.
Following those acts by players to draw umpiring decisions, Brereton was asked whether the Match Review Officer Michael Christian should be more willing to fine players that stage.
Brereton backed financial punishments for floppers while adding that he was ashamed as a player whenever he feigned for whistles.
“Absolutely,” Brereton replied on SEN Afternoons.
“We can be called dinosaurs, but it does take courage to play Australian Rules football in any era.
“The one thing that our era was irked by was people flopping, people staging for the benefit of either a free kick or 50-metre penalty.
“I can remember doing it myself as a young man thinking, ‘I'd get a free kick out of this’, and respected opponents standing over me while I was pretending to be hurt yelling and screaming at me, ‘Get up you weak cheating dog’ … with a few adjectives thrown in.
“The insult hurt so much that I just said ‘I can't be doing that ever again’.”
Brereton believes the AFL must stamp out such acts immediately while describing flopping as an awful way for footballers to go about their craft.
“But it's almost like some people in the media now say, ‘Oh, he's challenged the tackler to do better, he has challenged the umpire to make a decision here’,” Brereton explained.
“No, you know what? We've got a 360-degree game that's very difficult as it is and if we have players flopping and staging it is a blight on the game.
“We need to stamp it out … if we allow it to flourish in our game in the heartland of football, that just shouldn't be (allowed), we shouldn't allow that.
“We should be just stamping it out … I just think it's nonsense and an awful way to go about your craft as a footballer, a professional footballer.”
Christian didn’t punish any players from an MRO sense for staging in Round 11.
Listen to Brereton’s full chat with Dwayne Russell below.