Hodge disagrees with ruling on rucks

LUKE Hodge has said ruckmen should have their eyes on the ball when going up for a contest.

Speaking on SEN’s Whateley, AFL umpire Ray Chamberlain broke down when an umpire would pay a free kick for blocking in the ruck.

“Marking and rucking have the same overarching philosophy, which is that a player whose prime objective is to contest the football will be allowed to do so,” Chamberlain said.

“If just one ruckman puts out an arm, then it’s a block and free kick. When they both do it, nothing to see here.”

However, four-time premiership player Hodge did not think this addressed the issue of ruckmen focusing on their opponent over the ball.

Hodge questioned Chamberlain on his comparison of rucking to a marking contest.

“The thing that caught my ear before was when he said it’s the same as a marking contest,” the former Hawks skipper said.

“In a marking contest you can’t just have eyes for the ball and run straight at the opponent and knee them in the back or in the body. If they’re hurt, you’re going to have to pay the consequences.

“If you’re going to take the ruck contest, you’ve got to at least watch the ball.

“If you’ve got a ruckman who’s standing there with his eyes on the ball ready to tap it, and the opposition is just running straight at him with his knee up, and that poor ruckman who’s is solely going for the ball cops an injury and is out for three months, there’s got to be a few things we need to look at to say, ‘How’s that allowed?’

“In any other part of the game, you can’t just run at someone and put your knee into them if you’re not watching the ball.”

Carlton ruckman Marc Pittonet is set to miss up to three months with a PCL injury in his knee, after a ruck collision with Fremantle’s Sean Darcy, whose eyes were on his opponent, rather than the ball.

– BY CLAUDIA SULLIVAN/ SEN