A fuming Richmond coach Damien Hardwick has leapt to the defence of Tom Lynch as the star forward gets set to come under scrutiny for a collision that left Alex Keath concussed.
The Western Bulldogs defender was subbed out of his team's five-point win at the MCG on Saturday early in the first quarter after clashing with Lynch.
Keath was backing into a marking contest at halfback when Lynch ran under the ball and made contact with the former first-class cricketer.
Hardwick was perplexed at the thought Lynch could be in any sort of trouble with the match review officer when asked about the incident after the match.
"What for?," Hardwick said.
"I don't know what incident you're talking about."
When pressed further on the issue during a testy exchange, Hardwick said it was a "marking contest".
Hardwick scoffed when told it was raised during Fox Footy's broadcast of the match that Lynch could be in any trouble for the incident.
"If it's raised on the broadcast ... I've listened to the broadcast recently, they're not great," he replied.
"For being tough in the contest? No, I wouldn't have thought (Lynch would be in trouble)."
Lynch was on fire early, kicking the Tigers' only two goals of the first term, but was barely sighted for the rest of the match.
Richmond will enter next Friday night's Gather Round clash with last year's beaten grand finalists Sydney at Adelaide Oval with an unconvincing 1-1-2 record.
Meanwhile, Carlton's hopes of extending their unbeaten start to the AFL season have taken a hit with Harry McKay handed a one-match ban for striking.
McKay kicked four goals against North Melbourne on Friday in his best return of the year to date, helping propel the Blues to a 23-point win.
But he was cited over a high shot on Kangaroos young gun Harry Sheezel during the final quarter of the match at Marvel Stadium.
The match review officer assessed the incident as careless conduct, medium impact and high contact.
It resulted in a one-match ban with no reduction available through an early guilty plea.
McKay will miss Thursday night's clash with rejuvenated Adelaide - the opener for the league's Gather Round showpiece - unless he can have the ban overturned at the tribunal.
The Blues will welcome back Sam Walsh against the Crows after off-season back surgery delayed the gun midfielder's start to the campaign.
Blake Acres (suspension), Matt Kennedy (calf) and Sam Durdin (hamstring) are also available to return.
Carlton boast a 3-1-0 record in their best start to a season since their premiership-winning 1995 campaign.
