A pair of off-the-ball punches during Round 1 matches - one from West Coast's Liam Ryan and one from North Melbourne's Ben Cunnington - were punished by fines, rather than suspensions.
Speaking on SEN's Whateley, AFLPA President and Geelong star Patrick Dangerfield expressed his confusion around the AFL's stance on punches.
“When the vision comes out around what’s going to be enacted this season, I was led to believe that that was going to be a suspension,” said Dangerfield.
“We’ve seen it consistently off the ball this season where it hasn’t been (punished).
“Take out the Ben Cunnington incident, there’s been far more than just that… but it continues to be allowed, so as it continues to be allowed then our younger viewers will continue to look at it and continue to do it at the lower levels.
“I think thats something that we need to look at.”
Dangerfield admitted that due to the varying reactions to being punched, it could be difficult for the Match Review Officer to adjudicate.
“It’d very difficult to grade,” he added.
“If you belt (Luke Hodge) like that, chances are he’s not going to move. But there are other players in the competition who will milk it.
“(If a player stages or accentuates the contact) the ramifications for the player rightly or wrongly clenching his fist and hitting the player are going to be far more severe.
“Where does it sit? There is a serious grey area.
“If a player is suspended for it, there’ll be uproar - as there should be - because you’ll compare it to these past incidences during the same season where there hasn’t been a suspension.”
