CARLTON coach Michael Voss has launched a vigorous defence of his captain Patrick Cripps following an incident in Sunday's loss to Brisbane that is sure to come under scrutiny from the Match Review Officer.
Voss said Cripps' second quarter bump that left Lions wingman Callum Ah Chee concussed and out of the game was an "even contest" that his skipper had micro-seconds to decide upon.
Ah Chee gathered a ball mid-air just as Cripps left his feet to contest, knocking the versatile Lion to the turf.
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He was assisted from the field and did not return, being replaced by medical substitute Mitch Robinson.
"I thought it was a good contest," Voss said following the match.
"When you have not a lot of time to adjust in those circumstances, that made for a difficult contest, I'm sure one that will get looked at.
"From what I've seen the arms were outstretched and it was a pretty even contest and there's micro-seconds in it, so if we are asking players to make micro-second decisions, I don't know whether the game enables that, I really don't."
Voss said although he had empathy for Ah Chee being concussed, he questioned whether verdicts should be "outcome based".
"I don't think he (Cripps) is there to cradle the person to the ground, is he?" Voss said.
"It was unfortunate, we hope he is OK, clearly we have empathy in terms of that side of things, but we've also got to respect that the game is going to be evenly contested and that looked like an even contest to me.
"Unfortunately, one player had to come off."
MRO Michael Christian will deliver his decision on Monday.
Voss said watching his team erode a 57-point three quarter-time deficit down to 15 points late in the final term was pleasing, but not sustainable ahead of a huge fortnight against Melbourne and Collingwood.
Carlton needs to win at least one of the matches to secure its spot in the top eight.
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"I think we've got to embrace where we are at," he said.
"We are all about what's in front of us. They are games to look forward to. We are playing in games that matter. This is an important phase in the development of our group.
"We need that exposure. We are going to the MCG next week against Melbourne, it will be a big game.
"The Collingwood game is being spoken about already so we are getting exposure to these games and there can only be growth off the back of it."
Brisbane coach Chris Fagan was delighted with his team's performance, save for a few anxious moments in the fourth quarter.
He described it as a "magnificent brand of footy", defensively, offensively and with the ball in dispute.
"We just did everything right," Fagan said.
"It was sort of disappointing to have that last quarter, but I guess it's a good reminder of what can happen if you perhaps get a little bit too adventurous with your ball movement and maybe just drop off a little bit defensively.
"We'll take the lessons from that, but overall tonight, really good response to last week and happy to get the four points.
"It feels like we're building. Hopefully that's the case. Hopefully we can go to a half (of good football against Richmond last week), three quarters (against Carlton) and then get to four next week and just stay at four for the rest of the year.
"That's the idea isn't it? Probably won't work that way.
"There'd be some confidence out of that performance."
Fagan said Ah Chee would serve the AFL's concussion protocols and miss Friday night's match against St Kilda, while he was unsure of the severity of a chest injury to defender Marcus Adams.
