The Hawthorn Football Club is running away with the 2024 AFL season. From this, they noticeably lead the league in high tackle free kicks awarded in their own forward 50. The dirty tactics of their small forwards. Fifteen free kicks have been paid for high tackles, which is a worry. Players such as Nick Watson, Jack Ginnivan, and Dylan Moore are rightfully leading the charge on this issue. With all of this in mind, observers and commentators are rightly asking if these strategies make the game more exciting, or simply damage its integrity.
Above all, the statistics show that Hawthorn’s philosophy has had an undeniable and stunning effect on the team’s success on the field. At 170 centimeters tall, Watson has been extremely elusive to tackle. His agility and evasiveness allow him to slip through tackles and create scoring opportunities. This past week Watson again proved to be the bombing star by slotting three goals, boasting dusty’s limited scoring options.
If Jack Ginnivan’s other tricks haven’t caught your eye, you’ve been living under a rock. Known for dropping his knees to earn free kicks, Ginnivan’s tactics came under scrutiny during a clash with Gold Coast. In that hand-wringing, he managed to collapse his knees and funnel himself downwards into an incoming tackle, expertly winning a free kick in the process. This unfortunate incident has raised important discussions about the legitimacy of such deceptive tactics in general and their potential ramifications on the game itself.
Dylan Moore, though perhaps less notorious for this particular brand of play, serves as an invaluable cog in Hawthorn’s forward line wheel. According to pundits, “Dylan Moore’s first thought is to win the football and, if the tackle goes high, then he’ll take it.” Moore boasts a strong recent outing of 17 touches, four marks, and five tackles. His dedication to the game is evident and he’s capitalized on the boom of high tackle rules.
Opponents claim that such tactics would undermine the integrity of the spirit of the game. Other media personalities, Kane Cornes and David King among them, have sounded alarm bells. They lament the increasing development of high free kicks going the way of Hawthorn. Cornes said, “I think it’s a massive issue for them,” pointing to the damage it could do to the integrity of the sport.
King followed in a similar vein, with one quip asking whether hacky sacking of opponents was the character of Ginnivan’s empowerment. “He’s lowered his centre of gravity and the umpire has been sucked in to that,” he explained. King raised questions about whether the AFL should consider re-evaluating its rules regarding high tackles: “Do you think players would stop this immediately if we didn’t reward that with a free kick?”
The continuing conversation reflects a longstanding conflict in the league between attractive football and so-called anti-game tactics. Commentators are divided on whether these strategies should be considered legitimate aspects of modern football or if they jeopardize player safety and fair play.
