Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge fears “the game will fall apart and disappear” under potential restrictions to contact at the junior level.
Under current rules, junior footballers under 13 can wrap tackle but are prohibited from bringing their opponents to the ground.
However, the recent spike in concussion cases across all levels is prompting calls to lift that age beyond 14.
Beveridge is hesitant about a grassroots change, saying a “paranoid” reaction to concussion could impact the game’s preservation.
“I spoke to someone the other day, one of the leagues brought in a rule that at under-10 level if anyone slung an opposition player to the ground they would be sent off … there were 10 players sent off,” he said.
“We’ve got to be really careful because the game will fall apart and disappear … that just can’t happen.
“Kids have got to play a game that they enjoy otherwise they’re going to walk away from it, it won’t be the same game.
“We’ve got to be careful with how paranoid we get with the civil liability side of concussion … if we get too paranoid about it, we’re going to lose the game.
“We’ve got to make sure we nurture and foster the right things and I am not sure what the measures and middle ground is on that.
“Hopefully. someone makes the right call, but at junior level it’s going to be risky if they start being too restrictive about it.”
The AFL is on the back foot regarding concussion and is set to implement new restrictions on contact training next pre-season.
Beveridge says contact training is an integral part of every club’s program but suspects the limitations won’t impact the Bulldogs’ approach.
“No one wants to dance around the seriousness of concussion and I don’t think you’re ever going to be able to eliminate the risk, but mitigating it is important,” he said.
“I think every team, every club has their own instruction that we go about our training in a certain way to do our best to mitigate the circumstances where you lose someone to a head knock.
“But you do need to train, you know, because the players need to familiarise themselves with it, they need to rehearse it.
“We play match practice pretty early in the pre-season. I’ve had a look at some of the categories (and) I can’t imagine we’d need to change too much – we should be OK.“
