REIGNING Coleman medallist Jonathan Brown called on the AFL to monitor any trend towards tunnelling tactics by defenders before introducing any new rules to deal with the potential problem.
"It definitely is dangerous," he said.
"But I can see how defenders get themselves into the situation — if a forward does jump early, the defender sometimes doesn't know where to go except sit underneath him.
"No doubt the defender's going to try and influence the contest as much as he possibly can, but I've played on Craig Bolton a few times and I haven't had issues with 'Bolts' doing that.
"I probably don't jump as high as Nick Riewoldt, so that's probably why I don't get tunnelled."
Brown warned against a knee-jerk reaction by the league, saying it was difficult if not impossible to tell when a defender was deliberately employing the tactic.
"I think it's probably something that's worth the AFL keeping an eye on," he said.
"If it did become a bit of a trend, maybe bring in a rule, but I think it's more of a keep an eye on it (situation) and see what happens for the time being and fingers crossed, nobody gets injured. How do you tell whether it's accidental or not? I'm not sure if the ones on the weekend were that intentional, you know."
Just as the debate over the so-called tunnelling tactics was about to reach boiling point with Sydney coach Paul Roos launching a spirited defence of his captain Craig Bolton, St Kilda yesterday appeared to back away from the public debate.
Roos yesterday turned the heat back on Saints chief executive Archie Fraser, saying his comments regarding Bolton, who has been accused of using unfair tactics against Riewoldt, should not have been made public.
"We made that very clear absolutely, we just needed to get that across to Archie and the St Kilda footy club," he said.
"I spoke to (St Kilda coach Ross Lyon) today and he and I are fine.
"But I think we need to make it clear to Archie that's not the appropriate way to do things.
"It's a bit of a slur on Craig, he's a captain of our footy club and it's a bit of a slur on us."
St Kilda lodged an official complaint with the AFL on Tuesday night suggesting dangerous tactics were used against Riewoldt, claiming there had been a deliberate attempt to take his legs out from underneath him during marking contests during last Saturday night's game.
Roos said Riewoldt's athleticism made it hard to predict what he would do on the field, but stressed the furore has come as a complete shock to Bolton.
"(Riewoldt) is a unique player and to defend (against) him, you're not sure if he's going to jump," he said.
"All I know is Craig Bolton would never try to tunnel someone or take someone out. He's probably surprised like everyone at the club.
"If Archie hadn't said anything, no one would know anything about it."
Last night, Fraser issued a statement saying the Saints had no problems with Sydney and their decision to raise the tactics with the AFL should not be seen as an attack on the Swans.
"I've spoken to (Sydney chief executive) Myles Baron-Hay today and our clubs continue to have a good relationship," he said in the statement. "None of this was ever intended as an attack on Sydney. As a club we raised the question to seek clarification of the rules and it's up to the AFL to interpret the rules for the competition.
"We'll now leave this with the AFL to consider and our focus is clearly on this weekend's game against Carlton. The AFL is a fiercely competitive competition to win each week and we have well and truly moved on."
The Saints are expected to meet representatives of the AFL umpiring department today to voice their concerns over the issue.
