AFL great Greg Williams draws on bitter experience when he urges Andrew Gaff to bunker down and focus on staying a great player.
Williams knows exactly what Gaff is going through, with the West Coast star banned for eight matches over the punch that broke Andrew Brayshaw's jaw.
The two-time Brownlow Medallist also went through a tribunal storm in 1997 when he received a nine-game ban for pushing umpire Andrew Coates.
Carlton took the AFL to court over the controversy.
"He just has to be tough and move on - when he comes back, just play like he was," Williams said.
"Just continue what he was doing. He played 180 games or so without touching anyone or hurting anyone and he played a lot of great games.
"So he doesn't have to change too much.
"But it will affect him, there's no question - it's obviously affected him, the way he is."
Speaking at Tuesday's launch of a book on Norm Smith Medallists, the 1995 winner noted that the Gaff penalty is being described as one of the most severe since 2000.
"I was glad to see it was 'this century', not last," Williams said.
"Actually the good thing about my suspension, they brought in the appeals tribunal - that was one good thing.
"That's helped the tribunal a bit, but I don't think Gaff will be going there.
Unlike Gaff, who was a cleanskin before last Sunday, Williams was a regular at the tribunal during his stellar career at Geelong, Sydney and Carlton.
Williams said the Gaff incident shocked him.
He and David Rhys-Jones were protagonists during the 1980s.
"A lot of times, and I said it to Rhys as well, it was retaliation really for what he did to me first," Williams said.
"I meant to do it, which is a bit different.
"I don't think Gaff meant to do that - you can see and tell.
"That's just the way it was back then."
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