PLAYERS know what they have to do to tackle safely and effectively, St Kilda midfielder Seb Ross says, in light of his teammate Koby Stevens' one-match suspension from the Match Review Panel.
Stevens was banned for engaging in rough conduct with Greater Western Sydney backman Nathan Wilson in the second quarter of Friday night's win against the Giants.
The Saint won a free kick, but Wilson had to leave the ground to be tested for concussion after his head was slung into the turf while his left arm was pinned to his body.
Ross said at Seaford on Tuesday he understood the AFL's stance on dangerous tackles.
"The rules are forever changing. The players have always been pretty good at changing the way they play to suit the rules, but I've never seen one where the guy gets the free kick and ends up getting suspended for it," Ross said.
"I can understand what the AFL's trying to do with taking those sort of tackles out of the game, because it can be a really dangerous look."
Nathan Wilson went down to the rooms after this tackle. #AFLSaintsGiants pic.twitter.com/85qrTswpms
— AFL (@AFL) May 5, 2017
Mav Weller spent some time training and worked up to a reasonably high speed as he tested his rolled ankle on Tuesday.
The forward practised his goalkicking before leaving the track.
Nick Riewoldt didn't train after looking proppy on his right knee against the Giants, with that game coming on the back of consecutive six-day breaks.
Ross said sitting out the Tuesday session was normal for the 34-year-old.
"I don't know if he'll train today because he doesn't usually train Tuesdays, but there's a lot of guys that don't do that. He'll attack Thursday really strong," he said.
Coach Alan Richardson indicated over the weekend Riewoldt would likely be fit to face Carlton at Etihad Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The victory against GWS was the first time St Kilda has beaten a side above it on the ladder this year, but Ross said a review of the game showed there were improvements to be made.
"There was still plenty of stuff to work on. A lot of areas in our game that we didn't get quite right," he said.
"That's a pretty positive result, getting that type of result against a top-two side but still having plenty of things to work on."
Ross has been one of the club's standouts in a campaign that improved to 4-3 on the back of two straight wins.
The 24-year-old has averaged 28.6 disposals per game this season to rank 18th in the competition for that stat.
"I'm in my sixth year now, so it's taken me a while. (I) played all 22 games last year and was able to perform reasonably strongly.
"Off the back of that, coming into this pre-season, I had really great belief in myself and what I could do," he said.