Fremantle coach Ross Lyon said there are grey areas in the third man up rule that need to be addressed, following the club’s decision not to appeal Aaron Sandilands’ one game suspension. 

Sandilands was charged with rough conduct against Richmond’s Ben Griffiths in a ruck contest in the third quarter of Freo’s NAB Challenge game last Friday. 

"The third man up, obviously Aaron's dominant, teams do it (third man up) a lot, at some point he's got to be able to protect himself. I'll leave it there and we'll be in some dialogue and the competition will look at,” Lyon said.

“I think a lot of people are probably somewhat uncomfortable with it.

Lyon said the risk of challenging the suspension was too great despite the fact that Sandilands had never been suspended in his 239 game career and that he believed Fremantle had the “moral high ground” in the incident.

“We’re disappointed,” Lyon said.

“We felt we had a moral high ground with Aaron playing without a suspension.

“And his intention was to compete in a ruck contest.”

Match Preview: Freo v Adelaide

The Match Review Panel’s decision had thrust an early light on the rules surrounding the third man up at ruck contests, which Lyon said need to take into account the health of ruckmen.

“We’re really supportive of the head being sacrosanct if you choose to bump, but there are grey areas that need to be looked into,” he said.

“We go third up as well, we have tall mids so we’re not complaining.

“But at some stage he needs to be able to protect himself, all ruckmen do.

“If you’re a ruckman you’d be concerned about third ups, because it’s your ribs, your back, and it’s getting harder to protect yourself.”

Lyon also elaborated on the club’s reasoning behind not appealing the ban.

“We looked at the probability and played the percentages,” he said.

“11 went up (to the tribunal) last year, 10 lost, and if you lose you get another week.

“We weren’t in a position to challenge it, the risk was too great for Aaron and us.”

Filling the position of a a two-time Doig Medallist and four time All Australian would not be an easy task but Lyon was confident in Freo’s business like approach to the challenge.

“We’ll plan for round one without Aaron,” he said.

“It’s next man up with (Jack) Hannath, (Jonathon) Griffin and (Zac) Clarke in particular.

“We’re big boys, we’ll move on.”