Back in nothing but net there was a heated debate regarding blocking opponents from getting back to protected zone for lifting, basically Karthik’s ruling is that there are so many places you can be on the field, but you choose to be in their way, so it will be on you if you got pushed into the protection zone. So “why couldn’t you just push them out of the way” doesn’t sound like a valid excuse
Of course it will be very obvious if you just have a tether bot and wanna try to DQ every team you play against, and past rulings dont apply to this year. Keep that in mind. There is a related QA on playing defense in the protection zone <SG3> Defense Strategy in Protection Zone : Robot Events
and the ruling I was talking about is here
Answered: Forced into Climbing Zone - #2 by Karthik
Ah yes but remember: precedents and rulings from other seasons dont carry over 