The round two incident involving Fremantle's Nat Fyfe, which saw the Dockers star rubbed out for two matches, has been shrouded in controversy since the Match Review Panel's verdict was handed down.
If Fyfe had not been suspended he would be a clear Brownlow Medal favourite, but now he's ineligible for the award.
Fyfe went to bump Gold Coast's Michael Rischitelli as he released the ball from a contest, but in doing so accidentally clashed heads with the Suns midfielder.
The general view of some commentators since is that the Match Review Panel has not been as severe on similar incidents following the Fyfe bump. The topic was raised at an important meeting of club CEOs on Thursday.
McLachlan maintained the League's view that the head was "sacrosanct".
"It's hard for me to accept that a guy is rubbed out for essentially an accident as he went to bump," McLachlan told ABC Radio.
"But I think there's an acceptance that we need to make the head is sacrosanct and in that if you choose to bump, and you make contact with the head, you're in trouble.
"As problematic as that might be, we've prioritised the head and I don't think anything talked about yesterday will change that."
Games on Good Friday was also discussed at Thursday's meeting.
In the end, the AFL executive decided against staging a game on the religious holiday next year - despite winning the tick of approval from the League commission.
The jam-packed nature of the fixture next year, and the later start to the season, because of the Cricket World Cup, were factors in the AFL's decision.
But ultimately, McLachlan said the conclusion had been reached after it was determined there were no "obvious" teams to play the game.
"If you look through the mix, if you're going to do it, you've got to have the right game," he said.
"We couldn't find a game that would be the game if we were going to kick things off – given the divided view (of the AFL executive).
"With the actual match-ups in other slots there was a view there wasn't an obvious fit for next year."
