Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir will encourage Sean Darcy to ruck as normal despite the Dockers big man being involved in the incident that led to Marc Pittonet's serious knee injury.
Carlton ruckman Pittonet is expected to be sidelined for the next two to three months after rupturing the posterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.
The incident occurred during the first quarter of last week's loss to Fremantle, when Pittonet and Darcy clashed knees in a centre square ruck contest.
Darcy had his eyes on Pittonet as the two ruckmen charged in and made contact.
As contact was made, Darcy switched his eyes to the ball to win the tap.
Collingwood ruckman Brodie Grundy is also set for an extended period on the sidelines after suffering the same injury in a centre square ruck contest against Essendon big man Sam Draper.
Hawthorn great Luke Hodge says ruckmen should only have their eyes on the ball, otherwise there will be a greater risk of injury.
"If you're going to take the ruck contest, you've got to at least watch the ball," Hodge told SEN.
"If you've got a ruckman who's standing there with his eyes on the ball ready to tap it, and the opposition is just running straight at him with his knee up, and that poor ruckman who is solely going for the ball cops an injury and is out for three months, there's got to be a few things we need to look at to say 'how's that allowed?'
"In any other part of the game, you can't just run at someone and put your knee into them if you're not watching the ball."
Longmuir doesn't feel Darcy needs to change his technique.
"No I don't, not at all, because it's within the rules," Longmuir said.
"He's watching the ball as he hits the ball and wins the hitout.
"I've got no issues with what Sean is doing and until the AFL tell us otherwise he'll continue to play that way."
The AFL introduced a second centre circle in 2005 in a bid to avoid the spate of knee injuries ruckmen were suffering when they used to take longer run-ups for ruck contests.
Longmuir feels that second circle has helped reduce the amount of injuries and says the PCLs suffered by Pittonet and Grundy in the one weekend didn't represent the overall trend.
"I think we can get a little bit reactive sometimes and react too quick," Longmuir said.
"But largely I think the introduction of the circle has reduced the PCL injuries and made it a lot safer for ruckmen."
