Adelaide coach Brenton Sanderson has appealed to AFL umpires not to make an over-correction in favour of Gold Coast megastar Gary Ablett.
As Sanderson considers whether to risk his most important asset, Patrick Dangerfield, in Sunday's game against the Suns, the treatment of Ablett looms large.
The dual Brownlow medallist was subjected to a heavy tag from Western Bulldog Liam Picken last week, with pundits questioning the legality of Picken's overtly physical tactics.
Ablett was cleared of elbowing Picken by the match review panel but remonstrated with umpires several times.
His coach Guy McKenna intends to speak to Sunday's umpires about protecting Ablett, prompting concern from his Crows counterpart Sanderson.
"I hope there is not an over-correction," Sanderson told reporters on Friday.
"Gary is a bit like Patty (Dangerfield). He has had to deal with a pretty strong physical tagger for most of his entire career.
"Some weeks, the free kicks get paid and, some weeks, they don't."
Dangerfield could miss the Adelaide Oval encounter with bruising to his back.
The key Crow trained on Friday but Sanderson delayed a decision until knowing how Dangerfield recovered from the session.
"He can hardly move after most games and then just gradually improves," Sanderson said.
"He will tell people that he's playing. But we'll obviously make a smart decision.
"We don't want to risk our most important asset. We don't want to make poor decisions when it comes to our most important players."
Sanderson said Dangerfield's bruising sustained in last week's loss to Carlton was "significant".
"He does cop a battering every week. He almost puts his body into positions that most of us wouldn't dare to," he said.
"But it's hard to keep Dangerfield out. He always puts his hand up to play."
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