Collingwood legend Nathan Buckley is 'uncomfortable' with the MRO suspension handed to Fremantle captain Alex Pearce for the collision with Darcy Byrne-Jones.
The Dockers skipper collected the Port Adelaide utility in the second quarter during a marking contest in Saturday night's match, which resulted in Byrne-Jones being taken out of the game with concussion.
Pearce was given a three-game suspension by the AFL's Match Review Officer but will head to the AFL Tribunal on Tuesday night to fight the charge.
Having reviewed the incident several times, Buckley believes Pearce had no intention of hurting Byrne-Jones and that it was simply an accident.
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Alex Pearce has been handed a three-match suspension for this incident involving Darcy Byrne-Jones.
— AFL (@AFL) May 25, 2025
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"I'm really uncomfortable with this," Buckley said on SEN.
"Alex Pearce is coming toward the ball, in my view, he is watching the ball and if Byrne-Jones is coming into his vision late, and I assume that to be true.
"Some players are in Alex Pearce's position, you might think that you are watching the ball but you know the man is coming and you are going to collect him.
"I didn't feel that (with the Pearce/Byrne-Jones collision), I didn't think that.
"It looks like right at the end he (Pearce) sees him (Byrne-Jones), [before that] he thinks he is going to slide in and take a chest mark.
"But he sees him late, he looks like he is going to tuck his left arm up, which is brace, but then he opens himself up, so he puts himself at danger in all of this.
"So if it was head-to-head contact and we had the same outcome for Byrne-Jones but Pearce knocked himself out at the same time, does Pearce still get three weeks?
"In the end, all we are doing is saying, 'that's the outcome, you're on the football field and you're responsible for that and you didn't show duty of care - you're going to get three weeks'.
"That's pretty much where we're at because I don't think Alex Pearce was thinking about making contact with Byrne-Jones until contact was inevitable and then he did everything he could to minimise that contact, in my view."