Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin has leapt to the defence of young star Clayton Oliver after he was accused of staging.
Demons midfielder Oliver was roundly criticised for making too much of the contact he received from West Coast defender Will Schofield in Saturday night's AFL clash.
Schofield was reported for striking Oliver with an elbow during a halftime altercation, and the match review panel controversially offered him a one-game suspension.
But the tribunal on Tuesday night found Schofield not guilty and cleared him to play after the Eagles challenged the MRP's finding.
Former greats including Wayne Carey and Gary Lyon were critical of Oliver for exaggerating his reaction to Schofield's contact, which the tribunal deemed to be of negligible force.
Goodwin declined to comment on the tribunal's decision but said 19-year-old Oliver was not a dishonest person.
"One thing I do know about Clayton is he's a tough customer and he doesn't lie," Goodwin said on Wednesday.
"He clearly felt some force."
The tribunal outcome raised questions about the Demons' medical report, which contributed to the MRP's initial decision to ban Schofield.
Goodwin said the "basic" report did not state either way whether the contact from Schofield had been forceful enough to knock Oliver down.
"There's six questions about was he assessed and did he have any ongoing effects," Goodwin said.
"The answer was he was assessed but there was no ongoing effects and he'll continue to play.
"To suggest that it was (described as) forceful enough to knock him over from our medical team is factually incorrect."
Oliver denied he was a "faker" in post-match comments, and later took to Twitter to bite back at former Test cricketer Damien Martyn, who implied Oliver had taken a dive.
Oliver also changed his profile picture to a photo of Schofield elbowing him in the chin.
Another Melbourne youngster, midfielder Tom Bugg, had drawn attention last week for using Instagram to suggest he would target Western Bulldogs defender Jason Johannisen.
"Social media, I've lost track of that the last couple of weeks," Goodwin joked.
"We continually talk to our players about social media and about the impact it can have, both negatively and positively.
"I think as players, you learn as you go along through these periods."
