Dangerfield continues war on AFL rule 'disgrace'

Geelong Cats superstar Patrick Dangerfield has continued his war against the AFL’s contact below the knees rule, saying it “flies in the face of what we’re taught as youngsters”.

Dangerfield has been vocal about the rule in recent days, notably sending two tweets during Saturday night’s blockbuster grand final rematch between Collingwood and West Coast.

Irked by a free kick paid to Eagles midfielder Jamie Cripps after Collingwood’s Tom Phillips, Dangerfield tweeted “Contact below the knees.. absolute disgrace”.

In a subsequent tweet, Dangerfield said the rule was altering how the game was being taught to kids.

“Don’t put your head over the ball kids. Lower and harder… na not anymore,” he wrote.

Dangerfield continued his tirade in an appearance on Melbourne radio station SEN, with host Gerard Whately.

He said he held concerns for the future of the game if kids were taught they would be penalised for going to ground in a contest.

“The ethos of the game is to go and get the footy,” Dangerfield said.

“As a junior playing footy, you’re taught to put your head over the ball because if you do, you’ll be protected by the umpire. At the moment, that clearly isn’t happening.

“When it becomes so consistent that players putting their head over the ball, Jack Billings and Jamie Cripps I think are examples, where it’s in their area and then you’ve got players embellishing contact, it just flies in the face of what we’ve been taught as youngsters.”

While AFL umpires boss Hayden Kennedy admitted that he could “understand the outcry” surrounding the rule, he insisted it was largely being called correctly.

Despite this, Dangerfield continued to argue that the rule was preventing the sport’s best midfielders from doing their job.

“We all (milk free kicks). I don’t think there’d be too many players where there’s an opportunity for a free kick and we don’t take the opportunity,” Dangerfield said.

“I just think we need to reward the ball players more than we currently are.”