'You're not serious': AFL world seethes over farcical scenes

Former AFL great David King has lead a charge of former stars unhappy with the league's approach to head high contact after two controversial incidents in round one.

Gold Coast Suns fan favourite Matt Rowell, playing his first game back since being ruled out through injury for most of last season, found himself on the wrong end of a big hit from West Coast's Willie Rioli.

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It was the second of two contentious moments from round one, with Brisbane Lions midfielder Mitch Robinson picking up a one-match ban for a high hit on Port Adelaide's Xavier Duursma.

While Rowell quickly picked himself up and dusted himself off to help the Suns to their first ever win at Perth's Optus Stadium.

Nevertheless, the fact that Rioli was not penalised with a free kick against him left fans flabbergasted while the game was live, particularly since he was later handed a one-match ban by the Match Review Officer.

Both Rioli and Robinson are challenging their bans at the AFL Tribunal on Tuesday evening.

King, discussing the weekend's matches on Fox Footy program First Crack, accused the AFL of not being 'serious' about addressing head trauma as a result of the game.

The former Kangaroos great said Duursma was 'a millimetre away from a snapped spine' when he was collected by Robinson.

“We’ve got more cases than we’ve ever had, we’ve got more trauma, we’re seeing past players early in life really suffering,” he said.

“I look at this weekend and say, you’re not serious.

“The major component of this is the potential to cause serious injury. That is a millimetre away from a snapped spine and we give him one week."

The former North Melbourne great was equally annoyed about the hit on Rowell.

“We love big clashes in our game, we love them, but one player keeps his eye on the ball because he thinks the game will protect him and the other takes his eyes off it, turns, protects himself. He doesn’t protect Matt Rowell," King said.

“But I guarantee because Rowell is a strong bull and super tough and because we can’t tell what injury he sustained, and we may not know for a few years if he has in fact sustained head trauma, we just say play on, well done and there’s nothing to answer.

“You either change behaviours or you don’t. One week is just not good enough, it’s not. It’s round one and it’s happened again.”

King was not the only one to make the Rioli and Robinson hits a topic of conversation.

AFL greats debate head-high contact rules amid round one controversy

Recently retired star Shaun Burgoyne and Geelong hero Cameron Ling both empathised with Robinson, agreeing that the Brisbane hard man had few options when confronted with Duursma.

Burgoyne questioned what was better - the kind of contact sustained by Duursma or a clash of heads between he and Robinson.

“I feel Mitch didn’t really have much of an option, an out," Burgoyne said on the Al and Lingy Show podcast.

“I think if he didn’t turn his body side-on then we have a potential head clash. That’s what I was thinking. Do we prefer two players clashing heads or – I’m not sure what alternative Mitch had?”

Ling agreed it was 'harsh' for Robinson to cop a one-game ban, adding that his was the type of non-malicious incident that happens in almost every AFL game.

Former St Kilda star Leigh Montagna said his first instinct was that neither incident deserved a suspension, but then said since retiring his mind had started to change.

While he maintained both hits were relatively innocuous, he had been out of the game long enough to see the impacts of head trauma and concussion on former teammates and rivals.

As such, he encouraged the AFL to do more.

“There’s still the player in me thinking that these incidents happen on a football field where they’re so quick, it’s so hard, but in saying that I’ve been retired long enough and seen enough past players and teammates of mine that are struggling with concussion and struggling in their life afterwards that I’m slowly coming around,” he said.

“We need to continue to try and do more and more to protect players heads. If we need to start stamping out those sorts of contests I’m starting to come around for it.

"But there’s still a part of me as that past player that understands how quick and how split second those incidents are.”

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