North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson is still baffled why the AFL refused to make changes to the Match Review Officer (MRO) grading following its admission surrounding Paul Curtis' three-week suspension for a dangerous tackle.
The Kangaroos will welcome back the in-form Curtis to take on Collingwood at Marvel Stadium, which prompted another round of discourse.
Clarkson, who said he relayed his thoughts to the AFL at the time, was bemused why the league wouldn't alter the laws, especially since they've done it before.
"I think Laura (Kane) went public when she said โthere's probably a flaw in the system'," Clarkson said.
"Somewhere in there, there's just no scope for a two-week suspension or a one-week suspension on these sort of tackles.
"We thought he should have got off altogether, but we can sort of half cop and understand what they're trying to do when you get a week.
"For the system to not allow that to be the case and it be a three-week ban, I think the whole competition was sitting back and saying 'geez, somewhere that needs to change'.
"I would be pretty certain that there would be some sort of modification to that grading system with the MRO at the end of the year."
Clarkson referenced back in 2008, when he took Hawthorn to its first of four premierships in its golden era, that the AFL powers-that-be reduced the number of boundary umpires, ultimately giving more time for the ruckman to attend stoppages around the ground.
Last year, the AFL informed clubs of its crackdown on the holding the ball rule, saying they didn't alter the law, but instead reconfigured its interpretation to reward the tackler.
Again, another point to the North Melbourne coach's bemusement.
"My argument was 'if you know it's flawed now, change it now' โ there's other things in the game we change mid-term," Clarkson said.
"We've made changes like that before in the game, and if you think it's a significant enough change... What happens if the Paul Curtis thing happens to a team in the finals or a player in the finals, and they miss three weeks because of it?
"That would be a real injustice, I feel. Anyway, they will address it at the end of the year.
"It's done and dusted for us, we've got Paul back now, we're pleased he's back, and it's unfortunate he's missed the three weeks."
The Kangaroos come into Saturday's clash following a hard-fought victory against Richmond, which was off the back of an impressive three-week stretch which saw two losses by under 10 points (Port Adelaide and Essendon) and a draw (Brisbane).
Last time Clarkson's men faced the Pies, they were leading the contest by a staggering 54 points early in the third quarter, before faltering to the then-reigning premiers.
