RICHMOND coach Terry Wallace says determining the severity of head-high contact can be difficult, but it is still important to protect players’ heads.

Three players were reported in round 10 for head-high incidents and Wallace agreed each case had to be judged on its merits.

“It’s a hard one for anyone to adjudicate. I still thought that Shaun Burgoyne’s (against Hawthorn in round eight) was the one for me that was probably more in the grey area than any other ones I’ve seen,” Wallace said.

The Tigers coach said he could understand some people’s frustrations with the rule, but that player safety was paramount.

"We're always going to have some grey areas that are going to be debatable, but I'd rather have the debate than have somebody in a very nasty situation,"

Wallace said strict tribunal and umpire interpretations of head-high contact would result in less head injuries.

“We don’t want massive injury in the game so they’ve got a responsibility to make sure that doesn’t happen,” he said.

“But we know that the head is sacrosanct and if you're going down that pathway you're going to find yourself out for a couple of weeks no matter what happens.

“Personally I think that's a reasonably good thing. I think some of the nasty things we saw over a two or three year period, if we can alleviate that out of the game I think that's the best way."