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MELBOURNE coach Paul Roos revealed the Demons would "vigorously" defend Jack Viney at the AFL Tribunal on Tuesday night.
Viney will front the league judiciary for rough conduct against Adelaide forward Tom Lynch.
"All I can say is we believe Jack is bracing himself for contact," Roos said during his regular segment on AFL 360.
"We'll defend it vigorously, no doubt about that."
AFL 360 co-hosts Gerard Whateley and Mark Robinson said Viney should escape penalty for the incident which resulted in Lynch having his jaw broken.
"If Viney goes out for this...it doesn't sit comfortably for me," Robinson said.
Whateley said Viney had no option but to brace for contact and as a result should get off.
"Lets hold faith that this will pan out," he said.
"I think he's turned to mitigate the contact... I think he'll be found not guilty."
Earlier, Whateley and Robinson spoke frankly about Round 7 losers Richmond, Carlton, Adelaide and North Melbourne.
Robinson was very critical of Carlton's loss to Collingwood.
"I think there's a lot of blame game going on at Carlton," he said.
"I think Carlton are in denial. They've got issues.
"Good teams don't have such mediocre mental periods in football games.
"You look at Carlton and you say what do they stand for? Right now they are a pretty meek and mild football team."
Robbo felt Dale Thomas tried too hard against his old side. Picture: Wayne Ludbey Source: News Corp Australia
While careful not to make excuses for North Melbourne, Whateley linked the Kangaroos' inconcistency to the final stage of their development.
"They're not mature enough to achieve their level week in and week out," he said.
"They can play the special effort game - break hoodoos (Sydney and Fremantle).
"I'd have them next year and the year after but we're impatient."
Robinson said Richmond showed "glimpses" of its best in the narrow loss to Geelong, while Whateley felt Adelaide's loss to Melbourne could come back to haunt the Crows late in the season.
Robinson and Whateley opened the show talking about the injuries to key figures at Hawthorn and Sydney.
Robinson said Hawthorn couldn't afford too many more mishaps after losing Sam Mitchell (hamstring) and Brian Lake (calf) on the weekend for extended periods.
With Lance Franklin (knee) under an injury cloud of his own, Whateley said it would devastating in terms of build up if the $10m dollar man missed Friday night's blockbuster against Hawthorn.
WEEKEND HEROES: ANDO AND DERM'S BEST PLAYERS
Gold Coast received plenty of kudos for its landmark win over North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium.
Whateley said he felt the Suns were ahead of schedule in their development and could win enough games this season - given their draw - to play finals.
Roos was equally as enamoured with Gold Coast and the development of key forwards Sam Day, Tom Lynch and Charlie Dixon.
"They are a much more mature team (now) their bigs look like bigs, they look like men as opposed to boys."
West Coast, Fremantle and Hawthorn's almost "perfect game" was also on the agenda.
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ON THE COUCH - Fox Footy
AFL Hall of Fame journalist Mike Sheahan suggested Carlton free agent Bryce Gibbs has already made up his mind about returning to his native South Australia.
The Herald Sun reported in March that Gibbs will not sign an extension until he is confident in the Blues' list management and future direction.
"I think he's decided to go," Sheahan said.
"His body language says to me he's going back to Adelaide... and I wouldn't be doing much to keep him."
Former Hawthorn champion Jason Dunstall said Carlton's workrate allowed Collingwood to run rings around the Blues.
"They've (Carlton) got passengers, he's (coach Mick Malthouse) got to start dropping the passengers and say if you're going to play like that you're not going to play."
On The Couch host Gerard Healy said Carlton had to start rebuilding and regenerating the list because "there's no premiership upside with this group".
Special guest Damien Hardwick refused to rule Richmond (2-5) out of finals calculations.
"We've been really disappointed with our form through the first seven rounds," he said.
"We feel we're over the worst of it, we feel we're on an upward trend."
Hardwick said playing a more aggressive style was key to Richmond's success.
"One thing we've encouraged our guys is we'd rather you make a positive mistake rather than go into their shells."
Richmond coach Damien Hardwick. Picture:Wayne Ludbey. Source: News Corp Australia
When quizzed about losing speedster Matt White during the off-season, Hardwick said Richmond simply wasn't prepared to match Port Adelaide's lucrative long-term offer.
The program opened with Healy, Dunstall and Sheahan lauding Gold Coast's rise to fifth on the AFL table.
"They've been threatening but the Suns arrived on Sunday night at Etihad Stadium," Healy said.
Sheahan slammed North Melbourne for being "flakey to the point of brittle".
He branded the Kangaroos "pathetic" in front of goal.
The conversation shifted to Jack Viney's case at the AFL Tribunal and the panel was united in the belief the midfielder should escape penalty.
"I'm not sure he's got too many other options (other than bump)," Healy said.
"Unless you're going to say he should have tackled... I think he's got a very strong case (to get off)."
Sliding was again on the agenda with several incidents from Geelong-Richmond and Essendon-Western Bulldogs games under the microscope.
Healy said it was a "disaster" a couple of the players including Brett Deledio and Adam Cooney weren't pinged for sliding into opponent's legs.
TALKING FOOTY - 7MATE
HAWTHORN coach Alastair Clarkson said the Hawks would treat Lance Franklin - if he plays - like any other opposition player on Friday night.
"He's been a significant part of us winning two premierships... we would have loved him to stay at Hawthorn but he received an offer which was just too good to refuse."
"We wish him well but he's an opponent now and we've got to do everything we can to try win this game of footy."
Fremantle coach Ross Lyon joined the program via video link.
He said umpires had tightened rules in marking contests and around stoppages.
"I think we've seen a few more free kicks," he said.
Lyon came under fire last month saying umpires had contributed to unsightly congestion by not paying free kicks.
"I think they acknowledged that themselves and there's been slight adjustments."
Kangaroos coach Brad Scott talks tactics with his team. Picture: Colleen Petch Source: News Corp Australia
FOOTY CLASSIFIED - Nine Network
NORTH Melbourne coach Brad Scott was in the hot seat and made no excuses for the Kangaroos patchy start to the season.
Scott said it was an indictment on the club to go from a really talented side one week to a side that gets beaten due to a lack of effort the next.
He also took full responsibility for the Kangaroos' slow starts to games - outscored seven goals to one against Gold Coast on Sunday.
"Potentially I over-corrected during the off-season," he said.
"We want to be an attacking team... I genuinely think that and that is my responsibility."
Scott said he would persist Majak Daw in the forward line, while Drew Petrie's defensive pressure - for a man his size - was second to none.
Carlton dominated the early segments with Dale Thomas and Bryce Gibbs coming under fire.
Host Garry Lyon said Thomas looks "frail" as a footballer, while Matthew Lloyd urged the Blues to let Gibbs go at the end of the season
