Crows defender Jake Kelly,left,out cold.
The Dangerfield-Kelly incident does not kill the bump stone dead,as some will assert. But it does show that the high-speed bump - the bump in which the players meet at some velocity,due to one player’s choice - can’t be executed without a massive risk of suspension.
Today,a player can only really bump at close quarters,without picking up speed. In cricket terms,you need to be approaching the bump like a slow spin bowler,not off a fast bowler’s long run-up. They must be coached accordingly - bump only in confined spaces,when contesting the footy and never when accelerating.
The Burton-Higgins clash was one of the catalysts for the AFL changing the rules on bumps that cause head clashes. In 2019,the AFL decreed that “head clashes will nowalways (my emphasis) be considered a reasonably forseeable consequence arising from a bump and the previous provisions removed”.
From 2019,the player who “elects” to bump (which makes it sound like voting,rather than reacting at split seconds) would be in strife if there was a head clash that injured the other player. The only get-out clause is that the bumping player is contesting the ball,or if the bump was caused “by circumstances outside the control of the player”.
Patrick Dangerfield will face the tribunal for this bump on Jake Kelly.
When Higgins was cleaned up,somewhat inadvertently by Burton’s bump,there were howls of outrage. Steve Hocking,defending the decision to let Burton go unpunished,said the very existence of the bump was on the line.