Dons will ‘wrap arms around’ Jones after sickening injury; Kangas lash out over Curtis ban

Alastair Clarkson says North Melbourne remain “really disappointed” that Paul Curtis was controversially banned for three matches as the Roos endure the disappointment of a narrow loss to Essendon at Marvel Stadium.

North’s appeal against Curtis’ three-match ban for rough conduct failed on Tuesday night, the AFL tribunal ruling the Kangaroo made no attempt to reduce the impact on concussed Port Adelaide opponent Josh Sinn.

Curtis applied a heavy tackle from behind on Sinn at Adelaide Oval last Saturday and AFL rule-makers came down heavily on the Roo.

“In my opinion he’s almost the best tackler in the competition, he’s just so strong,” Clarkson said about his player on Thursday night.

“It’s a shame that that part of our game [tackling] is being questioned. It’s a feature of our game. We understand that there’s a duty of care, but there’s a duty of care for the game.”

The premiership coach lamented the length of the penalty for Curtis.

“This was a football action, so we’re disappointed with that outcome, particularly the severity of that outcome,” he said.

“Football accident – he gets three weeks. Someone swings an arm, off the ball incident, gets less.

“It just doesn’t make sense.

“It also doesn’t make sense that the AFL come out and say ‘we might change that at the end of the year’. It doesn’t help us. We’re really disappointed with that. Really disappointed.

“Really strong leadership would say ‘we understand it’s wrong, and we’ll change it right now’.”