ADELAIDE coach Brenton Sanderson says Sunday's high-speed collision between Marc Murphy and Patrick Dangerfield is a frightening example of how dangerous the application of the new sliding rule can be.
The incident, which happened in the second quarter of the clash at Etihad Stadium, saw Murphy injure his left AC joint and Dangerfield cop a heavy knock that appeared to wind him.
Murphy will have scans on Monday but will miss at least one week.
Both players were low and only had eyes for the loose ball when they slammed into each other.
Sanderson said the collision made him nervous, as he believed the chance of serious injuries occurring had increased since the implementation of the sliding rule.
"I know we trying to take out sliding into contests, but that was pretty scary from where I was sitting," Sanderson said.
"Two players almost diving at the ball head first ... it's inspirational from both players and credit to both players for not pulling out ... it was pretty impressive.
"I'm just a bit nervous about how players are going to approach it now. They're not going to slide in, but they're probably going to dive head first in.
"We're going to see someone get hurt, but we've just got to be careful about how we manage this new rule.
"It's a difficult one because the players' sole intent is the ball and it's spur-of-the-moment decisions that players are going to make.
"It will certainly take us a while to take it out of the ... method that they go about trying to win the ball."
Dangerfield was able to play out the game and produced a best afield game, but it took him several moments to regain his composure after the brutal collision.
Adelaide captain Nathan van Berlo said the contest was the "perfect example" of how players would have to attack the ball in order not to be cited for a sliding in feet first.
Carlton coach Brett Ratten called for further education from the AFL on how the rule would be used so players could be better taught on what they could and couldn't do.
"I think the way the players run into each other these days, there's a lot of force and momentum there ... hopefully it doesn't happen but there's going to be a serious injury in the way the players run in and collide because of the ferocity that they're running," Ratten said.
"The slide one, it's a tough one. As we've seen, players have had legs broken and things like that.
"It's probably the greyest part of the game at the moment.
"It's the hardest part of the game to get right, and I think it's something the AFL will have to tinker with, how we actually start to coach the players, and their interpretations can't be grey either.
"It has to be really precise so we can actually coach the players to fit the rule so the outcome is not a serious injury."
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs.
