GEELONG coach Chris Scott says Hawthorn counterpart Alastair Clarkson has been using "alternative facts" in his argument against shrugging head-high tackles.
As his team departed for Perth for a clash with West Coast, Scott called out Clarkson for his comments about Cats skipper Joel Selwood on Friday.
While Clarkson said rules needed to be changed to avoid Selwood winning free kicks for shrugging and sustaining "10 concussions in his career," Scott said the two issues weren't linked.
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"I think one needs to be really careful not to conflate shrugging a tackle with concussion, especially if you're using alternative facts to support your argument," Scott said on Saturday.
"The idea that Joel's had 10 concussions is just wrong. The number is three.
"And the two things are completely separate. I can understand that it's an issue, but it's not a new issue, the rules have been adjusted."
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As Selwood won a contentious free kick by shrugging a Ryan Burton tackle in the first term of the Cats' Easter Monday loss to Hawthorn, Scott said Clarkson should be worried about other aspects of the match.
"I can understand that Alastair was frustrated with James Sicily getting suspended but I think any reasonable person would say that Joel was more likely to suffer a concussion from a knee in the head than shrugging a tackle around the shoulder," Scott said.
"To bring it up again and suggest a change in the rules I think is deflecting from the real issue Alastair probably wanted to talk about."
Scott said Selwood didn't need to change the way he played the game.
"He's one of the most courageous players of a generation, if not all-time," he said.
"He's been concussed three times and he plays the game in the right manner.
"We don't for a second suggest to the umpires how they should adjudicate the game. And it's not my position as coach to try to dictate the rules of the game."
Scott said he would consider picking up the phone to discuss the issue with Clarkson, a close relationship stemming from coaching the Virgin Australia International Rules Series together and a recent trip to the Super Bowl.
Later on Saturday, Scott's view was supported by his brother Brad after North Melbourne's loss to Melbourne at the MCG.
Brad Scott suggested the League's new Competition Committee would take a close look at the issue but insisted the player who got the ball first needed to be protected, regardless of the "tactic" they used to earn a subsequent free kick.
"If the guy who gets to the ball first wills himself to the contest then he should be protected, but there are clearly players who did it really, really well and it's a bit of an art form," he said.
"I thought as a competition the umpires didn't reward them last year and it's seems to be earlier in the year there are a number of players from a lot of clubs who are doing it."
The North coach said his players were instructed to avoid giving away high-contact free kicks by going lower in the tackle than they might have previously.
"It is a tactic, it's not something that's just eventuates. Players are very adept at drawing high free kicks so we just try and get in lower. If you go high in the tackle you're vulnerable to being shrugged," he said.
"We just try and get in lower, we do work on it at training with our tackling to try and get in lower and avoid giving the ball-carrier the opportunity to do it."
