Essendon coach Brad Scott maintains Peter Wright made the ball his object in the collision that led to his four-match AFL ban but felt the club had no legitimate avenue to clear the key forward of wrongdoing under current rules.
Wright pleaded guilty at the tribunal on Tuesday to a rough conduct charge emanating from the airborne bump that left Sydney defender Harry Cunningham concussed.
The Bombers argued Wright's penalty should only be a three-match suspension, given the 27-year-old took actions to avoid an even more serious injury to Cunningham and showed contrition in the aftermath.
Scott said Essendon believed they risked a suspension of six matches or more if Wright had pleaded not guilty, and felt it was impossible to make a case to fight the charge.
"(The AFL) have iterated the rules to a point where some of the finest legal minds in our country can't find a way to challenge the charge," Scott told reporters on Wednesday.
"We really want to encourage our players to make the ball their object and we still feel that Pete made the ball his object.
"He had to make an absolute split-second decision and the reality is sometimes players are going to get that slightly wrong."
Scott echoed West Coast coach Adam Simpson's prediction that high-speed collisions like the Wright-Cunningham clash will continue to occur regardless of what penalties are handed out by the AFL.
"Over the last 12 months I could find you 100 examples where players have made the ball their objective and at the last second someone's got in their way and they have to adjust," Scott said.
"You can make the ball your objective but if you think you can hold your hands out and take a chest mark with someone running into you ... your instinct is always going to be to protect yourself.
"Players are in an incredibly difficult position, but we also understand the environment that we're operating in."
Scott, who spent 12 months as the AFL's general manager of football before joining Essendon in September 2022, acknowledged competing interests in the industry.
"The AFL have got their job to do - they're trying to mitigate risks and probably potential litigation in the future - and we're trying to coach our players to be fierce in the contest and make the ball their objective," he said.
"It's a fine line at the moment but ultimately we hope that Harry Cunningham's ok and that he makes a speedy recovery."
Wright will miss Essendon's clash with St Kilda on Saturday, with Saints spearhead Max King also ruled out through suspension.
King was unable to overturn his one-match ban for a head-high bump on Collingwood's Finlay Macrae.
