Tug crew take care of (9)
I believe the answer is:
manhandle
'tug' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both to do with contact as well as being verbs in their base form.
Maybe you can see a link between them that I can't see?
'crew take care of' is the wordplay.
'crew' becomes 'man' (both can mean to staff or operate something).
'take care of' becomes 'handle' (I've seen this in another clue).
'man'+'handle'='MANHANDLE'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for manhandle that I've seen before include "Mistreat" , "Push (someone) about roughly" , "Knock around" , "Treat roughly, or move by human effort alone" , "Give rough treatment to" .)