THERE will be "please explains" everywhere on Monday afternoon after the AFL executive meets to determine how best to deal with the simmering quarter-time Chris Scott v Lions players fracas on Friday night.

Headquarters has to be seen to be treating it seriously, as carnage could have ensued when the Geelong coach ever-so-menacingly and ever-so-coolly strutted his way out to his huddle after his player Gary Rohan and Lion Lachie Neale had clashed minutes earlier.

It was old-school stuff as a Lions player – suspect No.1 being Lachie Neale himself – yelled out something relating to Gary Rohan within Scott's earshot.

Anyone who knows Scott knows that in that very moment, he isn't going to walk away. Nor should he. He may have sought further information – and according to someone within earshot he did seek further information in possibly questioning the toughness of the Lions. And then other Brisbane players may have backed up the first voice.

And then another Lions player, possibly two-time All-Australian defender Harris Andrews but possibly someone else, said something like, "Not as soft as you p***ks in the Grand Final".

Cam Guthrie and Joel Selwood urged Scott to leave the area about this time. For the Lions' sake, it was beneficial they did.

Hopefully, there are no serious sanctions for what happened. It was old-school, stand-your-ground stuff, and I loved it. In a deliberately sanitised AFL world, it was as rare as a torpedo.

But there does need to be an official AFL-issued line on the situation. Keen to see which in which form it comes.

Life's about to get harder for locked-down Lachie 

Lachie Neale has created a problem for himself.

In failing to deal with Cat Mark O'Connor's old-school tagging job on Friday night, he has effectively invited all opposition teams to employ the same tactics.

Why it took until round two, 2021 for a club to assign a player a shutdown role on the gun midfielder who won last year's Brownlow Medal by a staggering 10 votes is anyone's guess.

Nathan Buckley coached beautifully against Carlton on Thursday night, securing the Pies' first win of the season. Come Thursday night at the Gabba – well, it's at the Gabba at this stage, COVID-19 protocols pending – Buckley must consider an O'Connor-style tag job for one of his players. An underdone Levi Greenwood? Callum Brown? Jack Crisp?

The three clubs in massive trouble after two rounds

In no particular order - Essendon, GWS, North Melbourne.

Five teams are winless after the opening two rounds of the 2021 season, but the Bombers, Giants and Roos are the ones which already have major, season-already-ended problems. Carlton may be on the verge of joining that trio if it loses to the more-than-OK Fremantle at Marvel Stadium next Sunday.

The Bombers knew they were in for a tough year before it started. Losing to Hawthorn after leading by seven goals in round one was complete and utter disaster. Saturday night's bad loss to Port Adelaide was expected. And that's the problem for this once-mighty organisation. There are no expectations any more.

This was the season that Ben Rutten was supposed to get the clean, John Worsfold-free air. Unfortunately for him, the air remains smoggy. They may have more than a quarter of the list aged 20 and under, and added the names on Saturday night during the bad loss to the Power of Sam Draper, Dylan Shiel and Jye Caldwell to an already-long and problematic serious injury list. But there is little spark, anywhere, in the Bombers team.

There is zero spark in the North Melbourne outfit. Losses to Port Adelaide in round one (52 points) and Gold Coast on Saturday (59 points) were fully expected. And now they have a fixture against the rampant Western Bulldogs in the Good Friday prime time slot that North so desperately craved yet has no reason to keep. Like the Bombers, there are injury problems. Robbie Tarrant, Ben Cunnington and Luke McDonald have been unavailable. But Wayne Carey could be added to this current mix and they'd still struggle to win six games for the year.

Then there's GWS. Grand finalist in 2019, missing finals in 2020, likely bottom five in 2021. It's a long way back from here. That they wouldn't even properly challenge the injury-depleted Dockers on Sunday proves how low they have slumped.

Who else but The Bont? 

It's no coincidence the game's greats find themselves with the ball when big matches need to be won, or secured.

Marcus Bontempelli stamped himself as a future great in his third season when he won a best-and-fairest in a premiership year and delivered one of the still not-properly-appreciated, near-perfect individual efforts in that year's Grand Final.

Of course Bontempelli had the ball in hand with 75 seconds remaining in Sunday's mini-epic Western Bulldogs-West Coast match at Marvel Stadium.

Of course he took the right option in soaking up the allowed 30 seconds of time, and of course he then kicked the match-sealing goal. That's what he does. He has finished no lower than third in Dogs' club champion awards since his first season.

His midfield mates in Josh Dunkley, Tom Liberatore, Jack Macrae and Bailey Smith ably assisted in the big win.

This match was always going to come down to the Bulldog midfielders' ability to outperform the Eagles' talls.

The battle was actually even. But the Dogs had Bontempelli. And there is a 2016 feel to this Bulldogs team. 

A Saturday afternoon to savour

Richmond-Sydney in the old-time marquee slot and venue - Saturday afternoon, MCG.

Bring it on. Dusty versus Buddy. Premiership coaches. Old, established stars and heads against future ones.

After their blistering start to 2021, the Swans should fully embrace this match. They may not be fully ready, but at the very least they will get a full audit of their footy operations.

And as of last Saturday when he returned to an AFL match for the first time since 2019, with a three-goal performance against the Crows, they've got Buddy Franklin back.

Franklin playing out the 2021 season would be one of the year's highlights. Franklin bagging six at the 'G on Saturday in a Swans win would propel this AFL season into the possibilities stratosphere.

When a ban doesn't feel like a ban

Being within the rules doesn't always make something right.

Paddy Dangerfield being allowed to play for Geelong in a reserves practice hitout against Port Melbourne on Saturday just didn't pass the smell test.

During the week, Dangerfield had been suspended by the AFL Tribunal for three weeks for an accidental head clash against Crow Jake Kelly in a landmark outcome which should forever remove the ambiguity about acceptable bumps.

Surely, that would preclude Dangerfield from any form of official match play in Geelong colours. Surely, a Tribunal suspension is a full suspension, not one with a caveat permitting him to maintain match conditioning.

Officially, the rule states: "A person who is suspended or disqualified may participate in any pre-season competition match or club practice match unless otherwise directed by the commission or the body that has imposed the suspension or disqualification."

After Spud's Game, it's time to keep talking

The inaugural Spud's Game: Time 2 Talk was one match within round two of the 2021 season.

Anita Frawley wants it to be all nine matches of a round from 2022 onwards.

The latest phase of Danny Frawley's legacy was an incredibly powerful part of the build-up to Saturday's St Kilda-Melbourne match at Marvel Stadium, further assisting in the key messages around mental health and the destigmatising of it.

Anita Frawley, who spoke so beautifully on AFL.com.au last week about Spud's Game, is not one to take no for an answer when she pitches a project. Over to you, Gill and the AFL executive team … a full round of Spud's Games from next season.