North Melbourne has said it is frustrated with the AFL tribunal's decision to uphold Paul Curtis' three-game ban for a dangerous tackle he laid last weekend.
Curtis pinned the arms of West Coast's Hamish Davis during a tackle in Round 14. Davis then left the ground with concussion, and the match review officer handed Curtis a three-game ban.
The Kangaroos challenged the decision but failed in their bid to have it overturned. North Melbourne general manager of football Todd Viney spoke on Friday about the suspension.
"Firstly, as a club we just want to make sure that Hamish Davis is recovering well," Viney said in the press conference. "We understand that concussion is a major issue for the AFL as a whole and the players to get right and try and safe guard the future for our players. We understand that it's a big issue.
"We feel that we put together a very strong case to get Paul off.
"At the end of the day, the AFL tribunal didn't see it the same way. We saw it as an apple, unfortunately they saw it as an orange. Now, I don't know how we get to the bottom of that, but we didn't think there was any significant intent.
"We are disappointed in that.
"I will go in and speak with 'Swanny' and put our view over it again with him around that."
Former club captain Jy Simpkin took to social media after the decision to uphold the suspension was made to vent his frustrations at the league:
"The AFL needs to get it together, the constant rule changes and the MRO is
laughable. Players don't know what they can and can't do anymore. Just hope for the
best each week," the Instagram story read.
Simpkin's post caught the ire of the AFL, who warned the 28-year-old against taking similar actions in the future and asked him to delete the post, which he did.
Viney said he could see both sides in the AFL-Simpkin debacle.
"With Jy Simpkin, he came out really strongly, looking after his teammate," he said. "He had some frustrations, probably like we all did and he voiced those through social media.
"We know the AFL, we have a good relationship with the AFL and probably similar to myself, if someone's got an issue with me, I'd expect a conversation face-to-face and not an email or something on social media.
"We have had the conversation with Jy, we support the fact he was looking to look after his teammate, that he has got some frustrations.
"But the message to Jy was, 'Look if you feel really strongly, let's go in and speak to 'Dils', 'Swanny' or Laura Kane, whoever it is, to voice those concerns and he understands that."
Viney conceded there was some confusion over the appeals process and said the club was advised against appealing the tribunal's decision.
Young gun Finn O'Sullivan will return to the side for North Melbourne's clash at the MCG against Richmond on Sunday.
