ST KILDA has accused the Sydney Swans over a tactic known as “tunnelling”, which involves taking a player’s lower body under the ball while he is in the air, causing him to partially flip and potentially land dangerously.

The Saints claim the tactic, which emerged in basketball, was used against skipper Nick Riewoldt a number of times in round one by Swans defender Craig Bolton.

Sydney Swans coach Paul Roos was reported on Wednesday morning to have denied the accusation, saying that he had not heard of tunnelling and that the claim by St Kilda was “insulting”.

St Kilda, through chief executive Archie Fraser, will raise the issue with the AFL umpiring department, which showed incidences of the tactic being used in ruck contests in the DVD it sent to all clubs during the pre-season to highlight aspects of the rules of the game.

Bolton also was reported denying that he had practised or be asked to adopt the tactic, and said that any contact with Riewoldt was incidental.

An AFL spokesman was reported in The Age to have said the umpiring department had already reviewed the St Kilda-Sydney game and that Riewoldt should have received “one, and maybe two” free kicks for infringements in marking contests.