2025-05-02T03:37:00Z

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Premiership coach Luke Beveridge has called on the League to throw out the existing classifiable offences matrix in favour of a simplified system Luke Beveridge during the R4 match between Western Bulldogs and Fremantle at Optus Stadium on April 6, 2025. Picture: AFL Photos WESTERN Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge has called on the AFL to overhaul the existing Tribunal guidelines, declaring North Melbourne's Paul Curtis "extremely unlucky" to be suspended for three matches. Curtis was banned for rough conduct over a dangerous tackle on Port Adelaide's Josh Sinn in round seven, prompting a strong rebuke from Kangaroos coach Alastair Clarkson. Beveridge agrees with his counterpart that Curtis' tackle was a "football action" and is adamant incidents where players have no intention to hurt opponents do not warrant suspensions. Learn More 00:41 The Dogs' 2016 premiership mentor likened the Curtis-Sinn incident to Jackson Archer's collision with Luke Cleary, which earned Archer a three-match ban. "The regulatory framework and the matrix that the AFL use is outdated now," Beveridge said on Friday. "We need to make sure that we need to look after the players who are playing the game and their intentions are pure. "I feel like Paul's were in the action and he's extremely unlucky." Beveridge said he feels the wording and framework of the table of classifiable offences in the Tribunal guidelines aren't fit for purpose. "It's set up as a really clinical way of responding to a situation that happens on the footy field," he said. "I just believe it needs to be rejigged and thought through in a different way. As I've said, just use the civil law test and balance of probabilities. "Did someone intend to hurt someone outside the laws of the game? If the answer is no, straight away (it should be) no penalty. Learn More 24:47 "You don't need a matrix, you don't need any framework." Beveridge clarified his concerns aren't directly related to Match Review Officer Michael Christian or the Tribunal itself. "It just needs to be simplified around certain things and the people who are involved in it are trying to do their best with what they've got," Beveridge said. "But what they've got needs to be superseded." Curtis and teammate Luke Parker both protested the tackle ban on social media but were told by North Melbourne to remove their social media posts. Sinn was concussed in the tackle from Curtis when his head hit the ground after the players' weight had carried them forward. AFL football boss Laura Kane admitted the three-match ban was a "jarring element" of the saga and suggested a new system could be considered at the end of the season. But Kane also said this week the matrix had "served us well" because the aim is to make the game safer.