As coach of an AFL side set to confront the Cats in Geelong, Brad Scott was happy enough to learn of Steve Johnson's one-match ban.
But as a fan who played 168 games and has a fair idea of how physical modern-day football is, Scott was disappointed to see one of the league's best suspended for an "innocuous incident".
Johnson accepted a one-match ban for making contact with Fremantle tagger Ryan Crowley's head and will miss his side's Friday night clash with North Melbourne.
The incident was graded as low impact, but Johnson's poor record meant he was unable to escape with a reprimand with an early guilty plea.
The 30-year-old would have risked an additional week's suspension had he fronted the tribunal.
Cats coach Chris Scott noted the incident was "so minor" on Monday, and his twin was sympathetic ahead of their fifth showdown as head coaches.
"We're certainly not complaining about ... but from a footy fan's perspective I don't like to see the best players rubbed out of the game for innocuous incidents," North coach Brad Scott said on Tuesday.
"The issue of carryover points will come up at some stage at the end of the year when we review the tribunal.
"We don't want players doing silly things all the time, but we play a pretty aggressive, confrontational, contact sport.
"Sometimes things happen that players should be warned about."
Scott suggested it wasn't for him to supply a better tribunal system than the current use of carryover points but that, in isolation, the Johnson-Crowley clash wasn't worthy of a ban.
"It's a hard job," he said of the match review panel.
"I'd prefer to see the things that could go either way, go the way of 'let's get the good players out there playing'."
Melbourne key forward Chris Dawes also accepted a one-match sanction for striking Richmond defender Alex Rance.
The Demons have the bye this weekend, meaning Dawes will sit out the May 31 game against ladder leaders Port Adelaide in Alice Springs.
Fremantle's Zac Clarke accepted a reprimand and 93.75 carry-over points for striking Johnson in Saturday's clash at Patersons Stadium which the Dockers won by 32 points.
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