Rival coaches back AFL umpires over Bedford injury call

Rival coaches Adam Kingsley and Michael Voss are united in the belief that umpires made the right call to stop play when GWS tagger Toby Bedford was nursing a shoulder injury.

Bedford hurt his right shoulder when attempting to tackle an opponent in the third quarter at Marvel Stadium on Saturday, and play continued nearby for several seconds.

But the controlling umpire eventually blew his whistle, with Carlton's Tom De Koning in possession just metres from Bedford, who was crouched down clutching his shoulder.

A ball-up was called after Bedford rose to his feet, and he eventually took his place next to Blues skipper Patrick Cripps at the stoppage.

The incident came with umpires still under a fierce spotlight after play was allowed to continue when Collingwood's Lachie Schultz was concussed a fortnight ago.

GWS coach Kingsley said it was "a really tricky one" for umpires, but backed their decision to stop play during his side's 17.8 (110) to 12.10 (82) win.

"A ball-up, I thought, was the fair outcome," Kingsley said.

"The last couple of weeks the umpires have been under a bit of pressure around not stopping the play, so what would we expect them to do?

"Of course they're going to be cautious, and so I thought they made the right call, absolutely."

Carlton coach Voss agreed, noting the scrutiny umpires have been under in the media after the Schultz incident.

"That's why you've got to be really careful how hard you go on those things," Voss said.

"Their intention was fine, so we've got to give them a little bit of a break on this.

"You'd love it to be perfect, and the reality is maybe that could've been handled differently.

"But you've got to look at the umpire's intention, and he's trying to do the right thing.

"And the ball-up (call) ended up being the right thing, I guess."

Kingsley laughed off suggestions players or coaches could try to exploit umpires' caution by faking injuries.

"Asking our players to lie down in critical moments during passages of play or something? It's probably not something that will happen," he said.

"There's a fairness with every competitor in this competition, whether they're coaching or playing, that would suggest they're not going to try to do that."

Kingsley did not agree with suggestions an injured player should be forced off the field before play restarts.

"Then you're kind of at the discretion of an umpire's assessment of an injury, which I don't particularly like," he said.