St Kilda coach Ross Lyon called it a "firestorm". Hawthorn's Sam Mitchell labelled it a "debacle".
This of course is in relation to the Zak Butters Tribunal hearing, which has stretched over five days as Port Adelaide prepare a secondary appeal.
On Sunday, Butters was reported for umpire abuse, charged by veteran Nick Foot, and was found guilty by the Tribunal, and fined $1500.
The matter could've been dealt with another way, said Mitchell, instead of such a public forum.
"We have the tribunal for a reason, but it's not for every reason. I think there were better ways we could've handled this as a competition. I don't think it's done anyone any favours the way it's played out," the Hawks coach said.
"Such a public narrative and a lack of controls around it. It's been a quite disappointing handling of the situation. No one is winning in this battle now."
There was of course the tribunal member who briefly disconnected from the hearing, before rejoining after he entered his car, adding more question marks to the process that has unfolded.
Audio was seemingly never picked up between Butters and Foot, but surprisingly caught the umpire penalising the Power star 50 metres as well as putting him on report.
The dragged out processes has caused concern, with Lyon worried about the stress these sagas have on individual players. St Kilda's Lance Collard is currently living it after he was handed a nine-week suspension (two weeks suspended) for the use of a homophobic slur that required four separate days - with the weekend in between - to deliver a verdict.
"It has been lit up, hasn't it; like it's a firestorm and the AFL is in the middle of it and the processes are in the middle of it," Lyon said.
"And I'm not across all the minute detail.
"But I think all of us from club land are concerned about our individual players and the stress that they're put through and potential damage to that individual - whether it's Butters or Collard or the people being caught up on the other side of the fence.
"It's very challenging and there's no doubt there's going to be losers and people that are damaged ... that sits really heavily."
The Saints are tipped to appeal, like Port Adelaide, the tribunal's findings.
Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge "purposefully stayed clear" of commentary over the tribunal given the furore surrounding the process and the outcome, but said the situation wasn't "ideal".
"We have got to protect the umpires but the players also need support as well. We're talking about two cohorts that need to be looked after," Beveridge said.
"I don't know how that can happen in this situation. It sounds like both parties are under duress and it's not ideal."
Two-time premiership coach Chris Fagan alluded to fact that both Butters and Foot could be correct in their review of the incident, but acknowledged how difficult it would be to get it 100 percent correct.
"I sit down on the bench every week, and I find it very hard for a person sitting a metre away from me to hear when I speak," Fagan said.
"So I look at (the Butters-Foot situation), and I go, I'm pretty sure the umpire thinks he heard what he heard, and I'm pretty sure Zak has another version of that. And given all the noise and clutter that goes on out there, it's more than possible for a misunderstanding to have occurred. And I think that's where common sense should have prevailed. I think that one should have been sorted out off the field.
"They both think they're right. I don't know how you decided when there's no conclusive evidence, how do you make a decision one way or the other. It didn't seem to make any sense to me."
