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The AFL has said the introduction of red cards for players who strike opponents is not on the agenda, despite the West Coast Eagles backing the idea of a send-off rule.
There have been calls for the league to introduce the rule after Melbourne forward Tom Bugg's hit on Sydney Swans defender Callum Mills.
The punch left Mills concussed and saw the Swans reduced to just three fit players on the bench for most of last Friday night's match.
AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan said there would be "a whole series of inconsistencies" if the league started sending players off the field.
"I don't believe that a red card is any bigger deterrent for Tom Bugg than say missing six weeks," McLachlan said.
"I think our game with the video and the scrutiny means that we can actually get the sanction right and make the really right decisions.
"There are potential challenges for the umpire to make the right decision every time in the heat of the battle."
Bugg was suspended for six weeks for hitting Mills, the equal-longest ban handed out by the AFL tribunal in nine years.
Less than a week earlier, Richmond's Bachar Houli was handed a four-week suspension for a hit that knocked out Carlton's Jed Lamb.
McLachlan suggested the AFL would look at whether penalties for "one-punch offenders" were sufficient.
"It's not something that we're prepared to tolerate … whether in broader discussions we look at the consequences at the tribunal or at the [match review panel], that's where the discussion [will be]," he said.
Eagles midfielder Andrew Gaff — who was also the victim of a heavy hit last year that saw Port Adelaide's Tom Jonas suspended for six matches — said the Bugg incident showed there was merit in introducing a send-off rule.
"It was a little bit unfair for Sydney to lose a player, but also for the Melbourne player to stay out there for the whole game," Gaff said.
"I think it needs to be judged by someone off the field.
"We don't want people making split decisions that may prove to be false, and guys are sent off for it."
West Coast chief executive Trevor Nisbett agreed the idea warranted discussion, but unlike Gaff, he suggested the umpires were best placed to make the calls.
"I see it operate very well in the amateur football league," Nisbett said.
"I think it gives the umpires a right to make a tough decision.
"If it's viewed by the umpire at the scene and he deems it violent enough to send someone off, I think he's got to stamp it out.
"I don't think there's any case for violence in our game to the extent where there's king hits and other things that do occur."
The AFL's former diversity manager, Ali Fahour, was given a red card by an umpire in Victoria's Northern Football League and sent off the field after punching an opponent and knocking him out last weekend.
He was later handed an indefinite ban from playing or officiating in any matches and is now being investigated by police.
Topics: australian-football-league, sport, perth-6000, wa, melbourne-3000, vic
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