Fox Footy pundits have urged the AFL to fine Geelong captain Patrick Dangerfield for lifting his studs during a contest in the weekend’s match against West Coast.
Dangerfield in Sunday’s Adelaide Oval meeting raised his foot and made high contact with Eagles young gun Reuben Ginbey to protect himself in a marking contest, which didn’t result in a free kick.
The AFL introduced a ‘studs up’ marking rule in 2019 to prevent players from engaging in such acts after Giants star Toby Greene had come under scrutiny for the controversial move, while Dangerfield himself has previously lifted his foot to Gold Coast’s Touk Miller in a 2022 pre-season game.
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And speaking on Fox Footy’s First Crack, dual premiership Kangaroo David King implored the league to act on the weekends incident.
“You can make your own decision whether this is part of our game or not,” King said.
“I think you need to stamp this sort of thing out. It’s not weeks, it’s probably a fine … we just don’t want that.
“Paddy’s done it a couple of times. For me, fine him, put it on notice to everyone across the competition, this is the minimum standard.”
Highlighting a video of when Greene lifted his studs to the Western Bulldogs’ Luke Dahlhaus in 2017, King said: “This is the one that ultimately started it … he was fined.
“But things have changed over the last five or six years of footy, so I think we’ve gone more severe.”
Western Bulldogs legend Brad Johnson posed: “Didn’t we (as a footy community) make a call this? That’s my assessment.”
Asked if Dangerfield is in hot water with the MRO, Johnson said: “I think potentially a fine and (a lesson to) don’t do it anymore.
“Everyone has to be on notice again with that, pus the tackles, as well, everyone’s been on notice for quite some time.
“We understand what you can and can’t do from a visual point of view … I’m not sure the players understand it, I think the majority do.”
Meanwhile dual All-Australian Leigh Montagna also believes Dangerfield’s act is worthy of a fine.
“I don’t know what the grading is for that. It will certainly get looked at, absolutely, we don’t want that,” he said.
“We haven’t seen much of that lately.”
