AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson has defended the decision of the match review panel not to charge Geelong's Trent West over a clash with St Kilda's Xavier Clarke last weekend.

Clarke was taken from the field on a stretcher wearing a neck brace and with the St Kilda club doctor Tim Barbour further supporting his neck. He was seemingly caught unawares as West bumped him, just off the ball. Despite the apparent trauma he received, he did not have concussion, returned to the field and has been named in the team to play Essendon tonight.

The match review panel's decision not to lay a charge has been strongly criticised by Kevin Bartlett, a 400-game player for Richmond, former coach and a senior member of the laws of the game committee. Bartlett called it a "glaring mistake" and called on the AFL to change the review panel's decision.

St Kilda has also sought an explanation.

Anderson said yesterday that he had questioned the match review panel chairman, former Carlton player Andrew McKay, about the decision. Prima facie, it seems to run counter to an AFL clampdown, at the start of last season, on head-high contact during bumping contests.

"They did view it very closely," Anderson said, "and the key points Andrew highlighted were that the panel viewed it as a bump to the body, not to the head, where the stricter guidelines have come into force, and that the medical report indicated no injury was sustained."

In its published reasons, the review panel relied on four of the six guidelines, as revised last year. They found the bulk of the contact was to Clarke's body, that West did not use his elbow as part of the contact, that (his feet) did not leave the ground and that he did not run a great distance to make contact.

Asked if panel members had not given enough weight to the other two — that Clarke, from his actions and demeanour, was not expecting contact and therefore not actively involved in the passage of play, and that the degree of force was excessive for the situation — Anderson said that in the panel's view, the behind-the-goal footage indicated Clarke could be considered in the play and ought to have been expecting contact.

The other members of the match review panel are former umpire Peter Carey and former player Paul Broderick.

Asked how Bartlett, or anyone else, could form the opposite view and whether the circumstances of the incident pointed to there being a case to answer, Anderson said: "It happens, year-in and year-out, that people can have different views of incidents. Kevin is entitled to his view." He said that no one from St Kilda had spoken to him but he was happy to talk to the club about the decision.