Greater Western Sydney co-captain Phil Davis has leapt to Jeremy Cameron's defence, blasting critics of the controversial AFL incident that saw his teammate suspended for five weeks.
Cameron's heavy contact with his elbow on defender Harris Andrews during Saturday's win over Brisbane left the Lion with concussion and brain bleeding.
While Davis conceded the 25-year-old needed to be suspended by the AFL tribunal, he believed reaction directed at his teammate in the aftermath was "disgusting".
Andrews will miss at least two games as a result of complications following the incident.
The Lions vice-captain approached Cameron after the fulltime siren but his condition took a turn for the worse later that night before spending time in hospital.
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Cameron's actions were deemed intentional, severe impact and high contact by the tribunal.
"Some of the reaction has really disappointed me," Davis said on The Footy Phil podcast.
"When you have people who speak with bias, slanderous words.
"The hyperbole surrounding some of the comments was disgusting.
"I get frustrated because people forget Jeremy is a human being as well."
Davis said the incident was nowhere near as bad as it looked on TV, pointing to Lions players who barely remonstrated with Cameron at the time.
He called for media and fans to better understand how quick the game is.
"I think people that don't understand that, in particular, are certain journalists who sit behind the microphone, their pieces of paper and haven't lived it and experienced it," Davis said.
"Your natural instinct, which is human survival, takes over and you have to protect yourself.
"Unfortunately in this situation Jeremy's mechanism to protect himself lent harm to Harris and I hope Harris is going well and we send our support there.
"Football is football and there are unfortunate events because people get caught in bad positions all the time.
"Jeremy is super unlucky. He had no intention to do anything malicious or wrong and it's disrespectful to say 'dog act'."
Cameron is second in the race for the Coleman Medal, five goals behind North Melbourne spearhead Ben Brown (40 goals).
The Giants sit in 10th on the ladder, two points behind the eighth-placed Kangaroos.
Cameron won't play again until the Giants' round 20 clash with Carlton on August 5.
