Essendon's Jaxon Prior could be facing scrutiny from the Match Review Officer for a dangerous tackle on North Melbourne forward Cameron Zurhaar.
The incident occurred at the beginning of the third term, when Prior laid a swinging tackle on Zurhaar inside the Bombers' defensive 50.
Prior attempted planted his weight low and pulled Zurhaar towards the turf as the key forward spun in circles looking for a teammate to dish the ball to.
Zurhaar hit his head on the turf as Prior completed the tackle, leading to a free kick for the 26-year-old. Zuhaar was not concussed from the incident.
Prior gets done for a dangerous tackle on Zurhaar #AFLDonsNorth pic.twitter.com/74tXhdX1E0
โ BRZY (@outbreezyWC) May 1, 2025
Although similar incidents in the past have seen the victim of the dangerous tackle concussed, the action itself has seen players, such as North Melbourne's Paul Curtis last round, given a three-match ban for rough conduct graded as careless conduct, high contact, and severe impact.
However, if the MRO were to deem the impact as less severe due to no concussion for Zurhaar, Prior could still face at least a one-week suspension for careless conduct, high contact, and medium impact.
Essendon coach Brad Scott said he felt for Prior for the circumstances he was in and admitted it is increasingly difficult to see a middle-ground for duty of care and laying an effective tackle.
"It's a really hard game to umpire, but I thought tonight that was a really hard one. A lot of players were being spun in tackles, some were holding the ball, some weren't, and they're 50/50 calls. It's not a criticism of the umpires, but it'd just be hard to be a player now," Scott said.
"(Luke) Davies-Uniacke and (Jy) Simpkin are as elusive as anyone in the competition, and when we did get the tackle and we spun them, they're still able to get rid of the ball.
"So you can't dump them, but you don't want them to release the ball, so we've just got to keep working on the technique, and I think it's a real challenge for players."
North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson was much stronger in his assessment of the MRO system, bemoaning the decision to suspend Paul Curtis for three weeks for his Round 7 tackle on Josh Sinn.
"It's a shame that that part of our game is getting the question. It's a feature of our game, and we understand there's a duty of care, but there's a duty of care for the game, and if the player hasn't got any intent other than to try to lay the tackle... we understand there's slings, but obviously this is a football action, so we're disappointed with that outcome, and particularly the severity of the outcome,โ Clarkson said.
"Football action, he gets three weeks; someone swings an arm off the ball, incident gets less. It doesn't make sense.
"It also doesn't make sense that the AFL come out and say, 'Oh, we want to change that at the end of the year'. Doesn't help us. We're really disappointed with that. Really disappointed.
"Really strong leadership would say, 'We understand it, we'll change it right now'. He shouldn't be missing three weeks of footy."
Essendon face Sydney, the Western Bulldogs and Richmond in their next three matches.
