Cameron appeal successful amid AFL tackle 'shock wave'

Cameron, who was initially charged over the tackle which left West Coast's Liam Duggan concussed, is now free to play in Brisbane's clash with ladder-leaders Sydney on Sunday.

Brisbane argued the Tribunal "put the cart before the horse" during Cameron's initial hearing by focusing on the Tribunal guidelines before determining whether the player had actually committed a reportable offence when tackling Duggan.

"The Tribunal reasoned backward from the conduct to conclude the conduct had a certain character to it," Lions lawyer Chris Winneke said.

"We say it should've started by considering for itself what amounted to rough conduct."

Winneke described Cameron's actions as a "lawful tackle" according to the rules of the game, disputing the Tribunal's assertion Cameron had driven Duggan back with "excessive force".

Winneke said Cameron didn't drive Duggan backwards at all, and it's "simply wrong" Cameron's actions turned a legal tackle into a dangerous one.

Both grounds for appeal were disputed by AFL lawyer Lisa Hannon.

"There really was no prioritisation of the guidelines," Hannon said.

"Those aspects of the guidelines to which the Tribunal averted in its reasons were entirely consistent with the test required to establish, under the laws and regulations, having regard both to the charge of rough conduct and its proper characterisation."

The appeals board agreed with the Lions.

"The Tribunal made a finding that the conduct of Cameron was unreasonable in the circumstances, however, what the Tribunal did not do was deal with the elements of the charge which is set out in the laws of Australian football," appeals board chair Will Houghton said.

"Whilst we accept that the Tribunal found the conduct to be unreasonable, which is one element of the offence, it completely failed to consider the second critical element of the offence: that is, whether the conduct was likely to cause injury.

"Absent that consideration ... we consider that the Tribunal did fall into an error of law that had a material impact on its decision."

GWS tagger Toby Bedford will have an appeals board hearing later on Thursday. (Steven Markham/AAP PHOTOS)

GWS tagger Toby Bedford will also head to the appeals board on Thursday night in an attempt to overturn his own three-match suspension for rough conduct.

Bedford was banned over the tackle which concussed Richmond's Tim Taranto.

Earlier on Thursday, Brisbane coach Chris Fagan described this week's tackle controversy as a "shock wave" for the competition and defiantly declared he won't be telling his players to change their technique for the time being.

"You can see by the reaction over the last 48-72 hours that there's a lot of confusion within playing ranks and coaching ranks," Fagan told reporters on Thursday morning.

"Coaches, we don't necessarily know how to coach tackling now.

"Things like the sling tackle and driving guys into the ground, we clearly know that's out.

"We know you can't bump (high) - if you hit them in the head that's a problem.

"But what happened on the weekend was a little bit more of a shock wave and we've got to see where it all ends up."

Adem Yze says he may look to the NRL for tackle advice. (Morgan Hancock/AAP PHOTOS)

Richmond coach Adem Yze is looking to get help from NRL side Melbourne Storm in a bid to avoid his players falling victim to the AFL's tackle crackdown.

But the first-year Tigers boss admitted it will be hard to change the habits of players in such a short amount of time.

"We might have to look at getting NRL coaches in here to help us with our technique," Yze said.

"They're going through the same thing - they're protecting your head and so we'll obviously get our heads together with maybe some Melbourne Storm people.

"We've got a boxing coach that has done some martial arts and he was having a discussion with me this morning around some of that technique and whether 'can we not drive and fall with them, can we drop our knees?' 

"So we've got to look at all those avenues because we've got habits that we've had as kids, it was always around pinning the arms and then taking them to ground."