CALLS from Brad Scott and John Longmire to change the rules regarding high contact should be approached with caution, says football operations manager Mark Evans.
North Melbourne forward Lindsay Thomas kicked two goals from dubious free kicks on Friday night against the Sydney Swans, when he adjusted his movements to encourage the opposition to tackle him high.
Both coaches were vocal about the issue in their post-match press conferences on Friday night.
Evans told 3AW on Saturday it was a complex issue but the priority had to be the players' safety.
"We have this balance between what do you want to incentivise for the person with the ball, and what do you want to do for the person who is about to lay the tackle," Evans said.
"We haven't found the right way to define what we want here. If you want to get rid of free kicks where you think the player has contributed to the high contact, you still can't bring in any system that allows an indiscriminate, sloppy, vigorous tackle to the head.
"It's far better to have errors of a couple of free kicks you don't like than to have broken jaws or concussion.
"It's something we've taken to the Laws of the Game committee again this year, to say 'do you think there's a way through this?'
"But I'm certainly not in favour of doing anything that incentivises a tackler to take less responsibility in the tackle."