GEELONG coach Chris Scott has been left scratching his head by the one-match suspension handed down to Taylor Hunt.
The Cats defender clashed heads with Daniel Rich as he laid a shepherd on the Brisbane Lions midfielder.
Like Fremantle's Nathan Fyfe, who copped a two-match ban for a similar offence, Hunt was penalised under the AFL's new bumping rules, which state that players "will ordinarily be liable" if they elect to bump and a head clash results.
Although at pains to state that he was not complaining about Hunt's suspension, given the rules in place, Scott considers such accidental head clashes all but impossible to take out of the game.
"We don't think (not shepherding is) an option," Scott said.
"We think that's inherent in the game that when your teammate has the ball, and he's being chased by an opposition player within five metres, that you … have an obligation to get in the way and stop the player reaching your teammate.
"We think Taylor did everything he possibly could to avoid breaking the rules. In some ways, he's been penalised for bad luck.
"But we're not here to complain about that. Our obligation is to make sure we understand the interpretation as well as possible and then give the players the guidance accordingly."
As for what sort of guidance he can give his players, so that they can continue to shepherd but also stay within the rules, Scott is unsure what to say.
"I don't like, as a coach, standing in front of the players and not having the answer right away, but that's where we are in this particular case," he said.
"We need to get some advice from the people that have implemented the rules.
"Because, clearly, I think everyone would agree that shepherding is an inherent part of the game, and we expect our players to protect the ball-carrier.
"We know you can't go high. We understand that clearly.
"What they're saying now is that if there's an accidental clash of heads, the player shepherding is responsible for that.
"It's irrelevant whether I agree with it or not, but I think it's a debate the wider football community should have."
