TEAMS are training their players in the technique of dropping in tackles to win high contact free kicks, Adelaide star Scott Thompson has claimed.

The tactic has been a hot topic across the weekend, with the Crow saying he doesn’t like the look of it one bit.

“I’m a bit old school when it comes to that,” he said on SEN.

“Back in the day, if someone was to drop their knees and throw their head back, it’d be play on.

“I think teams, certainly the way it looks now, seem to be training some of those tactics where they’ll get low or slide into a contest and let the head throw back.

“I don’t really like seeing it, to be honest.”

Thompson said if umpires stopped paying a free kick when a player initiated a high tackle, it would stop happening “pretty quickly”.

While many current and former players have sided with victims of head-high tackles, Thompson said players trying to lay legal tackles also deserved sympathy.

“It is frustrating at times for the tackler ... you get told to get low as you can when you lay the tackle, which is near impossible if someone drops at the knees and throws their head back to lay the perfect tackle,” he said.

Essendon great Tim Watson defended Kangaroo Lindsay Thomas, who has come under fire for appearing to lower his body into tackles in Friday night’s loss to Sydney.

“There are parts of drawing free kicks that annoy everybody that watches the game,” he said on SEN.

“I think this is an overreaction, if we’re going to start concentrating on players drawing a free kick … it’s always been a part of the game.”

Collingwood president Eddie McGuire said on Triple M the solution was for players to grab opponents by their arms instead of trying to tackle around the torso.