agree
free kick, fair enough. Though it brings into contention knees to the back of the head in marking contests (seen some ugly ones of those that left players far worse off than Dahlhaus).
AFL is stuck in a position of their own making.
They have to be seen to be making the workplace safe, so if in 20 years once concussion is better understood they can point to any past player, or legal request that "hey look at the changes we made, we tried"
The issue is its a slippery slope.
Bumps to the head, fair enough stops the sniping we once had, that suddenly became an issue with players with head over the ball. It was somewhat mitigated by being penalised for holding the ball if you jumped on it, id argue.
We had the sling tackles, and now are in the midst of the pinning the arms debate of whether you can do it at all. (im looking forward to the media shitstorm when they start potting players for letting players get rid of the ball and losing close games if they put in some stupid rule like that).
Now we are starting to see if a head hits the ground at all it is a free kick.
We have the Toby Greene incident which wouldn't be talked about if it hadn't have been head contact.
But what next? As you mentioned, knees to the back of the head which are just as dangerous because you have no means to protect yourself and don't know its coming. Is that ok? Or do we just go "oh that's all fine because high marks yay excitement". So its a half measure then? if something looks good we allow it? Hmmm doesn't quite gel there.
What I understand but don't like is, yes its true we live in a litigious society, we are constantly trying to protect ourselves, and we are becoming increasingly risk averse.
But this is a professional sport that you sign up to play. It is a hard game, with physical contact, injuries and accidents will always occur. This needs to be understood and accepted. Not wholesale rule changes every single year, its not sustainable.