Carlton coach Michael Voss believes AFL followers need to get used to incidents such as the one involving North Melbourne's Jackson Archer resulting in a suspension.
Archer, the son of Kangaroos legend Glenn, will miss three games after being unsuccessful in challenging his rough conduct ban over the sickening collision that knocked out Western Bulldogs defender Luke Cleary.
The case has divided the football world, with North coach Alastair Clarkson and Bulldogs counterpart Luke Beveridge believing Archer should not be penalised for the incident.
Bulldogs great Bob Murphy and former St Kilda champion Nick Riewoldt were also "really fearful for the game" should the ban not be overturned.
North confirmed on Wednesday they would not be appealing the verdict.
But Voss, a powerful midfielder who used his strength during a glittering playing career, took no issue with the suspension.
"My immediate response watching it was, I thought that would probably be called that way," he said on Wednesday.
"The reality is that our game has changed.
"There is a duty of care on the player approaching to have that duty of care on the player who gets first access at the ball.
"So that's that's how we instruct our players.
"So anything that's sort of deemed somewhat a little bit reckless in your approach, it will probably be looked at that way.
"I don't expect that to be any different moving forward, and we probably need to get used to it.
"You've got to have awareness from every place, and through good coaching, I think what we've seen is players generally adapt."
Richmond coach Adem Yze agreed that incidents leading to concussions would result in suspensions.
"You want him to fight, and you want him to try to win the ball and go with aggression, but we've just got to protect the head," Yze said on Wednesday.
"So he got it (the head). He was just a split-second off with that, and obviously, then you serve a suspension."
Essendon coach Brad Scott argued it was a major challenge for players but they simply had to adjust.
"The instructions we give our players; we want them to be brutal at the contest, eyes on the ball, make the ball their focus," he said.
"But when they approach a contest the AFL have clearly said the manner in which you approach a contest, you've got to do it with a with a duty of care in mind as well.
"So therein lies the challenge for players, instructing them to be brutal at the ball and in the contest, but also make a decision as to how you approach that contest.
"It is a fine line, but we can't instruct our players not to compete for the ball."
