That's Alastair Clarkson's advice for AFL footballers in the modern era.
Debate has raged about the bump's place in the game this week, following the suspensions of Fremantle's Nat Fyfe and Geelong's Taylor Hunt for head-high contact in a pair of round two incidents.
Geelong coach Chris Scott admits he isn't sure how to teach his players to bump safely under the new rules.
And ex-Hawthorn and Gold Coast hard-nut Campbell Brown reckons the bump is no longer worth the risk.
Hawks coach Clarkson says the bump is losing some of its relevance.
"It's getting more and more difficult to be able to use the bump as an effective mechanism to try and dispossess the player with the ball," he said on Thursday.
"In a lot of instances, you're probably just better off going in for the tackle."
Asked if he now told his players to beware of the bump, Clarkson replied: "It's a difficult one, but the rules are there that if you choose to bump then be very, very careful that you don't make contact with the head.
"It's pretty black and white in that regard, whether it's accidental or not.
"I suppose the choice you've got to make is if you don't want to risk the accidental contact, don’t bump.
"So that's something that all players will have to deal with in the next few weeks and try to work out that fine line."
Fyfe stepped on the wrong side of that line and will now miss two games, starting with the Grand Final rematch against the Hawks on Friday night.
Meanwhile, Hawthorn will cap off the week when it unfurls its premiership flag prior to the match at the MCG.
On Thursday, the Hawks announced they had broken their membership record for the seventh-year running.
The club has eclipsed last year's record of 63,353 and is bearing down of its goal of 80,000 members by 2017.
The current figure contains nearly 6,500 more members than the same time last year and almost 8,500 are Tassie Hawks members.
@TravKing_AFL
