The AFL has sent Carlton midfielder Adam Cerra to the tribunal for umpire contact in what will be a test case on the issue.
Cerra collided with an umpire for the fourth time in two years during the Blues’ 37-point loss to Brisbane on Thursday night.
The AFL has put umpire contact in the spotlight recently and has said there will be suspensions for continuously colliding with an umpire after previously just handing out fines.
Carlton coach Michael Voss said the Blues have internally talked about the issue as a whole in his post-match press conference after the Brisbane game.
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“Not so much specifically Adam (Cerra), but we’ve addressed that as a football club. The correspondence has been pretty clear coming out from the AFL, so obviously the first thing we do is make sure we have that covered off,” Voss said.
“It’s been something we’ve all been really mindful of within the industry, I think every club is spending some time on it, and when you’re in really high-contested areas, it doesn't always go perfectly."
Voss explained he hasn’t seen the incident against the Lions, but claims there will be some accidents in the midfield area.
“There’s going to be some error, unfortunately, the mids are going to be the ones coping the brunt of it the most, so we need to be cautious there,” he said.
“But I haven’t actually seen the incident… so I’d probably have to go back and have a look at that to find out what it looks like.”
Gold Coast coach Damian Hardwick has previously slammed the AFL for the umpire contact crackdown, as his star midfielder Matt Rowell is also not far away from a tribunal visit.
The Blues coach also talked about the incident involving a field umpire and defender Lachie Cowan colliding in the backline, which cost his side a goal, claiming ‘common sense’ would see a ball up.