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JACK Ziebell's suspension for rough conduct strikes at football's core and is a sad day for the AFL, North Melbourne coach Brad Scott says.
Ziebell was suspended for four matches by the AFL Tribunal on Tuesday night for a collision with Carlton's Aaron Joseph that left the Blue with concussion.
The Tribunal sustained the charge against Ziebell, finding that although he was contesting the ball at the time he could have done so in an alternative way that would not have put Joseph at risk.
Scott told reporters at Aegis Park on Thursday that Ziebell's suspension made him question the direction in which AFL football is headed.
"It was a bitterly disappointing day and a really sad day in my mind for AFL football. I think it strikes at the heart of what this game's about," Scott said of Ziebell's suspension.
"Since I've been involved in footy my whole life I've never ever seen a player get suspended for making the ball his sole objective, [or] attacking the ball with ferocity but being punished for the incidental contact that occurred because of that attitude in going for the ball.
"I think it's been a core fundamental of our game since the game was invented that you can attack the ball with ferocity provided you keep your eyes on the ball at all times and you make the ball your sole intention."
Scott said the only alternative Ziebell had had when approaching the contest with Joseph was to stop and wait for him to get the ball and then tackle him.
"But I think we've got to ask ourselves the question: Do we want Jonathan Brown recklessly attacking the ball, running with the flight of the ball [and] trying to mark it?" Scott said.
"I think it's something we want in our game. We want Nick Riewoldt doing the same thing.
"So to suggest that there's a reasonable alternative is to suggest that those sort of players shouldn't be … so ferocious in their attack on the ball."
Scott said North had worked closely with Ziebell to eradicate illegal bumps from his game in the wake of his suspension for making forceful front-on contact with St Kilda captain Riewoldt in round 23 last year.
"We coached him and said, 'You cannot do that, you cannot line up an opposition player, run past the ball and make him your sole focus'," Scott said.
"So he is now saying to me, 'I did what you said, I made the ball my sole focus, I attacked it and now I'm not allowed to play for four weeks'.
"So that's an indictment [on the game] in my view."
Scott said he would continue to coach his players to make the ball their sole focus, but said the Ziebell case had created a "grey area" in the rules.
Clarifying that grey area was the AFL's responsibility, not the AFL Players' Association's or the coaches', he said.
Asked if the AFL rules should be changed, Scott said: "That depends on the groundswell of public opinion as to the way they want the game played."
Meanwhile, Scott said Ziebell would train at high-altitude in Utah during his suspension, following the lead Collingwood have taken during recent seasons sending
sidelined players to Arizona.
"Jack will get a nice little northern hemisphere summer and a really solid training block to make sure that he comes back in really pristine condition," Scott said.
"We've strived to give our players the best opportunity to perform and this is just another way we're helping them do that."
Nick Bowen covers North Melbourne news for AFL.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_Nick.
Watch the Brad Scott press conference on YouTube
