Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge criticises AFL over tackle confusion; Sydney Swans star Tom Papley out with heel injury

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“So the suggestion for me was to make sure we bring back prior opportunity and validate incorrect disposal.”

The AFL adjusted their interpretations last year after coaches, led by Gold Coast’s Damien Hardwick and Carlton’s Michael Voss, called on umpires to start making faster calls on holding-the-ball decisions.

Beveridge has raised it personally with the AFL.

“We’ve gone from that to now this total confusion, so unfortunately we need a correction and it needs to come from City Hall [the AFL] and through the umpires. Because the umpires are just finding it too hard. They don’t know how to adjudicate it and our players don’t know what the decision is going to be.

“I don’t think we as coaches have ever felt as helpless around that and coaching it as we do now. I think the whole competition is confused.”

AAP

Papley adds to injury crisis

Vince Rugari

Sydney’s injury crisis has worsened with Tom Papley set to be sidelined for up to two months, while Logan McDonald has been cleared to resume playing this weekend – but will make his return through the VFL this weekend rather than being rushed into their depleted line-up.

The Swans will be missing 10 players when they face North Melbourne on Saturday, including several first-choice players in Errol Gulden (ankle), skipper Callum Mills (foot), Taylor Adams (hamstring) and defensive trio Lewis Melican (adductor), Robbie Fox (calf) and Harry Cunningham (foot).

Papley is the latest to join the club’s bulging injury ward after reporting soreness in his half after training last weekend, when the Swans had the bye. Scans revealed the 28-year-old small forward has suffered a crack in his heel and is likely to miss between six to eight weeks, coach Dean Cox said on Thursday.

“We’ll get a bit more verification on that in the following days. But, yeah, not great news,” he said.

“We’ve already got some key personnel out, now you get another one. Fortunately, this game moves forward, and you create an opportunity for another player.”

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Some of Sydney’s injured players, like Mills and Adams, have had either slower than expected recoveries or have had setbacks in their rehabilitation, meaning that Cox won’t be able to field anything even close to resembling his best 22 until the second half of the season at best.

On the eve of Opening Round he conceded that some of his pre-season methods may have contributed to the physical toll but said it was largely a case of bad luck.

“The thing when you look at it with injuries is, are they common? Are they reoccurring? Are they avoidable? Some of these ones … Errol tackled, Callum with plantar fascia, and, obviously, Tom now with a heel. So they’re all different,” he said.

“We’ve just got to make sure that we try and prepare our players the best way they can. We understand it is a contact game, and [we need] to push players to a limit knowing that they’ve got to withstand that game day. A lot of our players were slow to start through the off-season. So some of them are finding it a little bit tough through this period.”

There is better news, though, with McDonald set to play a competitive match for the first time in 2025, having undergone ankle surgery at the end of last season. However, Cox said he would need to build up his minutes – initially with the Swans’ reserves in the VFL – before he is able to properly contribute at the top level.

“He’ll be on restricted minutes, but … Logan is in our best team,” he said. “He hasn’t trained a lot through the whole pre-season program. The first couple of weeks will just be about playing. Whether that be forward, back, on a wing, I’m not really concerned with that.”

Saturday’s clash with the Kangaroos will be the first for ex-Swans captain Luke Parker against his former side, though Cox said he will not be in for any extra treatment.

“It’ll be different. He’s playing some really good footy, as North are as well,” he said. “He’ll just be another North player … no doubt, he’ll be trying to prove his best, like our players will as well. They’re pretty mature now. They’ll go about their business the way they need to.”

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