AFL 2023 News: Dermott Brereton calls players to fail, sling tackles, Jack Ryvoldt, Lee Montagna

AFL great Dermott Brereton has targeted players who take free kicks and has urged the league to deal harder with those caught.

The former Hawthorn Hardman has caught fire after a slew of controversial decisions in recent weeks that have resulted in players milking free kicks.

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Brereton said the only way to start eradicating players who failed free kicks is to start handing out financial penalties.

“We might be called dinosaurs, but it takes courage to play football by Australian rules.

“The only thing that annoyed our era was people failing, people faking in favor of a free kick or a 50-meter penalty.

“I remember doing it myself when I was young, thinking, ‘I’ll get a free kick for this,’ and respected opponents who stood over me while I pretended to be in pain, yelled and shouted at me, ‘Get up, weakling. fraudulent dog ‘… with a few adjectives added.

“The insult hurt me so much that I just said, ‘I’ll never do that again.’

The great forward said the league must intervene to stamp out the action and called on players who use flopping in their games.

“But it’s like some people in the media are saying now, ‘Oh, he challenged the tackler to do better, he challenged the referee to make a decision here,'” Brereton explained.

“No, you know what? We have a 360-degree game that is very difficult in itself, and if we have players who fail and fake, it ruins the game.

“We need to eradicate this… if we allow this to flourish in our game at the heart of football, it simply should not be (allowed), we should not allow it.

“We should just root it out… I just think it’s bullshit and a terrible way to practice your trade as a footballer, a professional footballer.”

Richmond star Jack Ryvoldt echoed the same sentiment as Brereton, stating that players are starting to “play possum” for free kicks.

Ryvoldt said the rise in the number of players caught making dangerous tackles is causing confusion in the league, but players are beginning to take advantage of the refs’ tendency to reward any strong contact.

“I believe players can figure that out and start playing a little possum,” he said.

“I think the players are looking for free kicks. As we have seen, high tackle contact has become prevalent over the past decade in the AFL. Now players will be able to take advantage of how to get a free kick. Maybe he just went a little limp and sank?

“It’s hard to understand why some are punished with a week, even with a free kick, and some are not.”

Lee Montagna felt the game “went too far” in the other direction, penalizing tackle results, and was pleased to see a fix the other way.

“I’m glad they took all the cases to the tribunal so we can all better understand what can and can’t be done,” he said.

“It was pretty clear at the beginning of the year that if you throw, drive or throw the ball and a player gets hurt, you will be suspended.

“I felt that this weekend we probably went too far. It was just a case where you make a tackle and the player hits his head, you will be disqualified and I don’t necessarily agree with that.

“From where we came from, we probably went too far for every tackle when a player hit his head to be suspended, but I felt like we were back a little to get away, there must be some danger behind this to miss week.

“I thought there was a chance that this would be the first time some players would retire.

“As a player, you should now understand that if it’s dangerous and if there’s a move, a drop or a toss, you’re in trouble, but there’s an element of momentum in the grab and if you try and be careful, you should let go.”

Originally published as Dermott Brereton criticizes AFL players for missing and scoring free kicks