The AFL world is once again left scratching their heads as the results of the Match Review Officer (MRO) provided more questions than answers.

Amid a hot and contentious start to season 2025 where Jackson Archer copped a three-game suspension for what most deemed as a football act, the MRO have been thrust again into the spotlight.

Michael Christian (MRO) attempted to provide some clarity around his thinking in delineating outcomes.

"Just for background, what I do is first try and assess the conduct of a particular incident," Christian told SEN Whateley.

"So, it's effectively three options - to do nothing or to grade conduct as careless or intentional."

Geelong captain Patrick Dangerfield narrowly escaped any suspension but was subject to a hefty fine after an errant arm caught St Kilda's Ryan Byrnes on Saturday.

"In this particular incident, Patrick raised his right arm Again, the first area to consider is the conduct. Was this careless? Was it intentional?" Christian said on SEN.

"What we've certainly got from the tribunal in recent seasons is that when a player raises an arm and it hits the victim's shoulder โ€ฆ the tribunal determines it as careless because that (the shoulder) was the first point of impact rather than high or the head region or neck โ€ฆ so it was graded careless.

"As it was graded careless, we then go to the next stage of where the contact occurred, and despite it coming off the shoulder, there was still enough force for high contact to grade it as high.

"Then the determining factor was about impact and a number of things come into play with impact. First is the visual look of it. Second is a medical report, which we get access to obviously to look at and examine. The third is the player's reaction.

"None of those things again in themselves are definitive, but taking all those things together, it was assessed that the impact was low."

The night before, Western Bulldogs defender Rory Lobb collected Collingwood's Mason Cox during a marking contest, leaving a nasty cut and bruise under his eye.

"What we've got the benefit of is numerous camera angles that allow us to really home in on a couple of specifics, including where Rory's eyes were. I determined that his eyes were firmly fixed on the ball during the entirety of the ball's flight," Christian continued.

"The second point is about the spoiling action itself, and he extended his arm in what I would call a genuine spoiling attempt. The third point is about how close he did get to the ball. The fourth point is where was the ball in relation to the player, Mason Cox? Mason marked the ball pretty much right in front of his face.

"We do understand that accidents do happen and in this particular case, I think Rory's attempt to spoil was a genuine one."