Aaron Naughton suffered a potentially serious injury on Thursday night in a horror tackle that drew a fierce response from fans and experts.
Early in the second quarter of the Marvel Stadium clash between the Bulldogs and the Swans, Sydney’s Lewis Melican had his legs around Naughton and grabbed his right arm as he pulled him down onto the turf.
Watch every game of every round this Toyota AFL Premiership Season LIVE with no ad-breaks during play on Kayo. New to Kayo? Start your free trial today >
Naughton, who had possession of the ball at the time, immediately screamed out in pain and was eventually helped from the ground, unable to put any weight on his right leg.
There were fears the 24-year-old, who signed a whopping eight-year contract extension in 2023 that starts next year, had ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament.
“Generally when it is that instant pain … fingers crossed it’s not what we all think it is,” Dale Thomas said in commentary.
That injury would lead to a year out of the game, although the Bulldogs were “optimistic” Naughton had avoided an ACL injury and would await the results of scans on Friday.
But the manner of Melican’s tackle was quickly being diagnosed across the sport.
It was reminiscent of the infamous “hip-drop” tackle that has risen to prominence in the NRL.
Defined as occurring when a player “drops their body weight onto an opponent’s legs in such a way as to constitute an unacceptable risk of injury”, it was outlawed in the NRL in 2020 and America’s NFL followed suit in March this year.
Fox Footy’s Sarah Jones started the conversation during halftime of Thursday’s clash, stating: “David King, you want to have another look at the Aaron Naughton injury, the method of the tackle concerns you.”
King, a two-time premiership winner with North Melbourne, laid down his thoughts on the possible outcomes of the technique.
“It’s been outlawed in the NRL,” he began. “The hip-drop tackle, where you put all your weight on the back legs to take a player down.
“It causes serious trauma and massive injury.
“Now these are the unintended consequences of not being able to dump or the umpire not blowing the whistle quick enough, but have a look at all the weight go through the lower leg.
“It either snaps legs, it’s got syndesmosis written all over it, it’s got ankle breaks, it’s got knee trauma, it’s the one they hate in the NRL.
“And I think we need to have a think about this. I don’t have the answer, but we’ve got to recognise that this is no good for our game.”
Jason Dunstall replied: “We’re not NRL. We don’t see much of this.
“But if you’re not allowed to throw him to the ground, not allowed to drag him straight down, what are you allowed to do? We can’t play touch.”
King then reiterated that he doesn’t have the solution, but stressed it’s not a good look for the game.
“I get it. I don’t have the answer. But when you make these other rules, these are the unintended consequences,” he said, after the AFL cracked down on a range of tackles, predominantly to protect players’ heads.
“I do think the umpire needs to blow his whistle a lot quicker to save the drop.
“That’s the one change I would make, but that’s a broken leg every day of the week.”
Former St Kilda defender Leigh Montagna added: “Yeah that’s ugly, we don’t want to see any of that.
“But we’ve seen a number of tackles where players have tried to do the right thing and be gentle.
“But the umpires have let them play and it’s allowed the opposition player to get the ball out.”
In one positive outcome in the early stages since Naughton’s injury, the Bulldogs’ general manager of football Matthew Egan said the initial diagnosis was encouraging.
“Obviously disappointing, in a freakish tackle his leg got caught and got twisted,” Egan said on Channel 7.
“We’re pretty optimistic it’s not his ACL.
“We’ve just got to wait for scans tomorrow.”
On a tough night for the Dogs, Ed Richards and youngster Anthony Scott were both ruled out during the game with head knocks.
Fans vented their feelings about the Naughton tackle on social media, with many saying it should be banned or come with a suspension.
“Awful tackle. Players continue to sit on opponents legs while tackling them. Surprised we don’t see more injuries,” was one comment on X.
“Can end people’s careers tackling like that. Disgusting,” wrote another.
“Hip drop tackle. Atrocious. Should be weeks. Dog act!!” declared a third.
Some Bulldogs fans were quick to offer their help to Naughton, the club’s leading goalkicker in each of the past two seasons.
“He can have my good knee, I don’t need it,” wrote one.
“Sawing off my own knee for him now, (be right back),” quipped another.
Without their key forward, the Bulldogs took the fight up to the current ladder-leaders, taking a four-point lead into halftime.
The flag fancy Swans put their foot down after the long break, building a five-goal lead late in the final term.
But the courageous Dogs stormed back to trail by just eight points in the dying minutes.