THE AFL will closely examine the Tribunal decision that cleared Collingwood's Brayden Maynard over the collision that knocked out Melbourne's Angus Brayshaw, and will not rule out more rule changes to deter avoidable and forceful head-high contact.  

Maynard was deemed not guilty of rough conduct during a marathon four-hour hearing at the AFL Tribunal on Tuesday night, freeing him to play in Collingwood's preliminary final next week.

The AFL decided not to appeal against the decision after "careful consideration and review of the Tribunal's decision and reasons following last night's hearing".

In a statement released on Wednesday afternoon, the League said while "the Tribunal’s decision was not the outcome the AFL sought when it issued its Match Review findings, the AFL respects the reasoning of the Tribunal Panel".

"The AFL has actively taken action to minimise the incidence of concussion in our game and has continued to make considered decisions to protect the health and safety of our athletes, including by making further rule changes to deter avoidable forceful head high contact in our game as has been done in over 30 instances over the past two decades," the statement read.

Footy boss Laura Kane later added the League is "comfortable and respectful of the Tribunal's decision", saying rules are reviewed at the end of every season as part of regular process.

"This incident was unique," she said. "We will review all rules and regulations, as we do every single year at the end of both of our seasons in AFL and AFLW. I won't comment on one particular rule of the game. I'll reiterate that this situation was unique.

"People are passionate about football, that includes people that work here. It includes people that work at clubs, and it includes the fans. That's all part of it.

"It's a hard decision and a hard situation, because of the incident that occurred. But it's hard for everywhere. Yes, it's a baptism of fire. But it's nothing that's unexpected in our game.

"The debate was a passionate one, and it was a really difficult situation. It's a difficult incident. It's really challenging for everybody involved. But we didn't feel there were grounds to appeal. That's it put, plain and simply. If we did think there were grounds to appeal, we would have."

Kane also dismissed the suggestion of a rift between herself and Match Review Officer Michael Christian after the decision to send the Maynard case to the Tribunal.

"I won't comment on the employment status of any of my teams," he said. "In terms of what occurred Friday, 'Chrisso' is passionate. He's passionate about football and he's passionate about his role, he holds it at the utmost importance. We worked through this incident and, as you saw on Friday evening, we released a joint statement which referred this matter to the Tribunal."
 
"There's no issue (with Christian). I won't enter into hypotheticals, but I'm really comfortable with the model that we have. I was in regular contact with Michael all weekend."

The incident has divided the football world.

Before Tuesday night's hearing, Hamish Brayshaw - the brother of Angus - said it would be an "injustice" if Maynard was able to dodge suspension.

Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin said the Tribunal case would define what players' duty of care looked like in such "football acts".

AFL counsel Andrew Woods argued Maynard had breached his duty of care by deciding to smother in such a dangerous way.

He also argued Maynard had made a conscious decision to bump after realising contact would be made.

But the AFL Tribunal of chairman Jeff Gleeson, Scott Stevens and Darren Gaspar found Maynard's actions were "reasonable".

"He committed to the act of smothering when he was ... several metres from Brayshaw," Gleeson said in his findings.

"We are not at all satisfied that a reasonable player would have foreseen that violent impact, or impact of the type suffered by Brayshaw, was inevitable or even likely."

Former Richmond captain Trent Cotchin, who was freed to play in the 2017 Grand Final after escaping suspension for his high hit on Dylan Shiel, said it was hard to judge players for split-second decisions.

"The challenge is that when you slow any vision down to microseconds, that's a big difference to what actually happens in the moment," he said.

"The 2017 situation for me, I was unaware until after the game of how close I probably was to maybe missing the biggest game in my career to (that point).

"I'm very fortunate that wasn't the case."