RooTube: Daniel Pratt interview

North Melbourne squad for Friday

NORTH Melbourne hard man Daniel Pratt believes the bump is not an endangered species, but has forecast an increase in suspensions following the four-match penalty handed to Collingwood's Nick Maxwell.

Pratt, 25, pledged not to change his physical approach, but feels the hard-line interpretation of the rules governing hip-and-shoulder bumps and high contact don't adequately take into account the split-second nature of the decision-making process.

"It's definitely a touchy issue at the minute," Pratt said on Wednesday.

"It's becoming quite hard for players because you've only got two-tenths of a second to make a decision and then change direction, but it all gets watched in slow motion [at the tribunal] and that makes it look a lot worse than it sometimes is.

"But going into games from now I don't think players are going to be thinking about that, [so] it does put a few guys at more of a risk of missing games if they're not careful."

Maxwell was offered a three-match suspension with a guilty plea by the match review panel following a collision with West Coast's Patrick McGinnity in round one of the NAB Cup that saw the young Eagle leave the game with a broken jaw.

The Pies skipper unsuccessfully challenged the ruling at the AFL tribunal on Tuesday which increased the sanction to four matches.

Pratt felt for the first-year player injured in the clash, but feared a change in tactics on his part would lessen his impact on the game.

"If you change the way you've always played then you're going to be a lesser player," he said.

"I'm not going to change the way I go about it, but I've got to probably be more aware that the footy is the number one priority.

"I don't think players go out to intentionally hurt other players, but it's definitely going to make the focus more at the footy. At the end of the day if you can put your head over the footy then that's what you're judged on."

The Kangaroos kick off their 2009 NAB Cup campaign against Carlton at Telstra Dome on Friday night.

Dream Team watch – Daniel Pratt is rated a $330,100 defender in Toyota AFL Dream Team 2009.

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