Greater Western Sydney coach Leon Cameron has launched a spirited defence of Jeremy Cameron, saying "assassination" of the suspended star's character went too far.
Key forward Jeremy Cameron has copped a five-game ban for his hit on Brisbane defender Harris Andrews that resulted in brain bleeding and severe concussion.
Leon Cameron says his namesake must tweak his approach but some pundits should be "embarrassed and disappointed" by their analysis of the incident.
"The thing that disappointed me the most was what happened to Harris. The second thing was the assassination of Jeremy's character from key people that had an agenda," Cameron told reporters in Sydney.
"I was disappointed with a lot of people, especially people with prominent positions in AFL media.
"Being a thug or a dog - those sort of words don't relate to Jeremy Cameron.
"(They) should be embarrassed and disappointed because he's not that. He's a really good person.
"He goes 100 miles an hour. I've acknowledged we need to tweak areas of his game."
Cameron also took a swipe at perceived "anti-Giants" sentiment, noting it was going to exist because of how the expansion club started.
"There's always going to be disturbance from down south ... they're concerned about us, so they'll probably bag us more than not," he said.
"It doesn't affect our guys internally, in fact it probably drives us a little bit harder."
GWS unsuccessfully argued at the tribunal on Tuesday night Cameron's strike was careless, not intentional.
The majority of criticism has focused on the act itself, but Cameron's supposed lack of contrition has also been in the headlines.
The Giants' response to the incident - plus the club's culture - have also been attacked.
"The concern we had straight after the game was for Harris," Leon Cameron said.
"We feel for Harris ... our main concern is Harris can come back and play football.
"What he (Jeremy Cameron) did after the game was spot on.
"I thought the club handled it really really well - from the time it happened to the sentence last night."
Leon Cameron talked to Lions counterpart Chris Fagan on Sunday, while Jeremy Cameron reached out to Andrews via text message.
Cameron's ban means Brent Daniels and Aiden Bonar are in line to debut on Saturday night, when GWS host Hawthorn at Spotless Stadium.
"You can't replace like for like," Leon Cameron said.
"Five weeks is a long time. It will give him time to think and for the coaches to work on those tweaks in terms of how he approaches some of those contests."
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