The Cats have recently come under fire for undisciplined acts following reports to James Podsiadly on the weekend, Bartel the previous weekend in round 17 and Steve Johnson in round 16.
But Bartel said the Cats would stick with what they know even though they are five weeks out from a seventh consecutive finals series.
“We’re not going to ease up because it’s very hard to play football not going 100 per cent with your intensity, your attack on the football and the man,” Bartel said.
“We’re well aware there’s a lot of us sitting with heavy loading points, obviously every 100 points you’ve got a week and there’s a handful of us already starting with 80 points.
“If you look each incident in isolation you wouldn’t say a lot of them were ill-discipline acts or dirty acts, most of them were attack on the footy or the man and that’s the way it should be, in a hard and aggressive manner.”
Bartel’s one-match ban caused heavy speculation after he was cited for front-on contact against Adelaide’s Rory Laird in round 17. He said it was tough to attack a contest with a player leading with their head.
“It makes it difficult for the person who’s trying to tackle the man who’s leading with his head. Because we’re told you’re not allowed to bump, not allowed to go lower,” he said.
“You actually leave the guy who’s trying to tackle with no options. Players are smart enough and they adjust to those rules. They know you can’t come front-on and tackle me so they lead with their head.
“I’m not sure you can pay free kicks by someone ducking their head with the football but you’ve just got to not pay the ones there so then players stop trying to use it as a way to get a free kick.”
Bartel said there was a distinct difference in a player leading with their head and being tackled high and upright.
“I think there’s a difference in that, where you expose the bloke for poor tackling technique,” Bartels said.
“Lifting the arm up and forcing the high free kick, as opposed to getting the ball and sticking your head down like a rugby scrum and just looking for contact to get the free kick. Which is a lot more dangerous for the guy with the football. Serious injuries can occur.
"I don’t have an issue if someone has the football and they take it and force you to actually tackle them properly."
