The AFL says Jack Viney's successful appeal against his controversial two-match rough conduct suspension was probably the right result.
The Melbourne midfielder is free to play in Saturday night's game against the Western Bulldogs after his appeal against a two-game rough conduct suspension was upheld.
Out of the past 15 appeals against tribunal verdicts, it was only the second time that the player won.
"Although it's been a convoluted debate across the week, we finally get to a result that was probably correct," said AFL football operations manager Mark Evans.
Viney's case and his original guilty finding at the Tuesday tribunal hearing sparked uproar around the AFL.
There was widespread debate about whether the two-match ban meant players could not longer bump.
Melbourne's argument was that Viney was bracing to protect himself, rather than trying to bump Adelaide forward Tom Lynch.
The collision left Lynch with a broken jaw.
The appeals panel ruled in Viney's favour on Thursday night and it will provide detailed reasons for the surprise decision.
Evans said on Friday morning that he was unaware when he would receive those reasons.
But he added that the Viney case would prompt the league to issue new guidelines for the tribunal process.
He said an important issue was when the match review panel assesses a player's intention in an incident.
"A part of that might be to reinforce to the match review panel that when you're judging a players' intent, you're better off doing that at normal speed," Evans said.
"While you might have slo-mo vision and look at various parts of it, you should judge a player's intent at normal speed."
Evans also said the league would need to have another look at what constitutes a legal bump.
"We need to provide some guidelines or reinforce our guidelines around this decision to bump or just a collision, where there is an element that looks like a bumping action towards the end of it," he said.
"We need to work out what's the right fit for our game in there."
Evans said the tribunal system had held up well this week and the AFL is better informed after several days of hot debate.
But he said the AFL would continue to protect players against head-high contact whenever possible.
"Global sport is grapelling with this exact concept right now in relation to head injuries and concussions," he said.
"We will be tested in the future to make sure our rules continue to protect player health and safety.
"Then there needs to be some common-sense approach of evaluating incidents according to those rules."
Evans said he had no trouble with the appeals panel overruling the tribunal verdict.
"That is perfectly OK - that's what the system is there for," he said.
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