THE AFL says it will not act on Essendon forward Angus Monfries' admission he took a dive in the round 14 incident that saw Hawthorn's Jordan Lewis suspended for headbutting.

Monfries has been criticised for over-emphasising high contact he received when Lewis head-butted him in round 14, and again last week after an incident with Richmond's Jake King.

Monfries said the Hawks' midfielder, who received a two-week suspension for the incident after taking the case to the tribunal, was unlucky to be cited for the action.

"I think Jordan Lewis was really stiff to get the weeks he did," he said. "I definitely took a dive. It was in front of goal and I was trying to get a goal so there was nothing much in the Jake King incident either.

"It's something I've probably got to look at as well. It's something I need to address."

The AFL ruled out penalising the Bomber under its anti-staging rule.
 
League spokesman Patrick Keane said on Thursday afternoon that the matter had been dealt with by the tribunal at the time and was now closed.
 
Keane also pointed out that the AFL’s rule, which allowed for a player to be reported and fined if caught staging, applied only when a player reacted despite no contact being made.
 
In this case, Keane said, there was no dispute that Lewis did make contact with Monfries.

Despite the criticism, Monfries has had a stellar month for the Bombers, booting nine goals in the last four games and averaging 17 possessions.

He said an altered role, pushing deeper into the midfield, had enabled him to be more involved in the game.

"My role just changed a bit and I'm playing more through the midfield," the 24-year-old said on Thursday. "It gets you involved a bit more in the play and gets you up the ground, so it's been great."

Monfries, who was drafted to the Bombers from Adelaide club Sturt in 2004, said it was important the club started well against Adelaide on Friday night and took last week's second-half demolition of Richmond into the game.

"I think that's going to be pretty important tomorrow night - getting off to a good start and really silencing the crowd early," he said.

"We went through five weeks where it was tough going, and I think we went out against Geelong and really made a focus on our tackling and pressure and to get that back up and running to the standard that we know we can.

"We weren't that good for two and a half quarters last week but the last quarter and a half was back to our best and is how we know we can play."

Callum Twomey covers Essendon news for afl.com.au and essendonfc.com.au. Follow him on Twitter at @Cal_Twomey