On Saturday night, Collingwood captain Darcy Moore was ruled out with concussion after he reached down for the ball headfirst and collided with Oisin Mullin just before halftime in the Pies' 54-point loss to Geelong.
Speaking on the Six Points AFL podcast, Daniel Harford has criticised the technique of Moore when entering the contest against Mullin, leading to the injury.
"Mullin made a play at the ball. Darcy Moore has been playing this game for a long time and still finds a way to lead with his head into a contest situation," Harford said.
"You've said this before, protect the head, and rightly so from a concussion perspective, because we are learning more and more about that as we go.
"But goodness gracious me, some of these players, the way they attack the footy, they do it because they are going to get rewarded by a free kick, they talk about being protected by the umpires and that scenario.
"Put your head over the ball and get protected by the umpires, that's garbage, you don't get protected, you get rewarded, and if you reward poor behaviour and poor habits, they are going to continue to do it."
Harford believes the poor technique of players will lead to serious injuries.
"Now, all the players, this drives me bananas to this one, all the players, not all, most of the players put their heads in positions of real vulnerability because they know they are going to get a free kick if they get contact," he added.
"Now that is a stupid way to play the game, someone's going to get really hurt, the way that the speed of the players these days and the impact points these days are much more significant than they were in the old days.
"Because of the way that players turn back into traffic or leads with their heads instead of their bums like they should be doing, because they know they're going to get a free kick.
"They put themselves in harm's way from a concussion perspective, but there's neck damage opportunities there, and other players who are attacking the ball legally and correctly in my view, get suspended because they are the ones doing the right things, and the other guys are doing the wrong thing."
Harford thinks the AFL lawmakers should step in and change the rules.
"The lawmakers should make it that if you turn back into traffic, that's your prior, if you initiate the head high contact it's a free kick against you, no different to diving on footy and taking out the legs of the opposition."
