NORTH Melbourne coach Brad Scott has defended his decision to approach Tom Rockliff after the final siren on Saturday night because he spoke to the Brisbane Lions midfielder in a controlled manner.

However, Scott did concede that coaches who approached opposition players after games walked "a very fine line".

Scott's conversation with Rockliff was prompted by the Lion's brief, animated post-match altercation with North Melbourne veteran Brent Harvey.

AFL still investigating Rockliff-Harvey exchange

"You walk a very fine line as a coach when you talk to an opposition player, a very, very fine line," Scott said.

"I understand that if you approach an opposition player with aggression or emotion or in an irrational manner there is a potential for disaster, so you do walk a very, very fine line but the line I was walking along was calm and rational."

Michael Poulton, a member of the AFL's football operations team, contacted Scott to discuss the incident but the North Melbourne coach will not receive a 'please explain' from the AFL.

Scott said he understood his responsibility to provide an example to the wider community as a senior coach in the AFL and said his actions were only acceptable if they were done in "the right fashion".

"I think it's a recipe for disaster when emotions are running high but I want to make that crystal clear: I wasn't emotional, I wasn't aggressive, I was really calm," he said.

"Tom [Rockliff] is a terrific young player and I have a lot of respect for him and I think we are both adult enough to have a simple exchange like that provided it's done in the right manner."

He distilled his conversation with Rockliff to a message: "Come on mate, I think you're better than that."

"Cuff me if you want," he joked.

Rocky's 'learned a lesson' now time for the media to move on

He said he didn't believe any offence was taken by retiring Lion Jonathan Brown, who was speaking at the time.

Scott, who played in two premierships alongside Brisbane Lions' coach Justin Leppitsch, said he would have no problem if an opposition coach approached one of his players after a game, as long as it was done in a professional manner.

He acknowledged there was a risk that the situation could have been inflamed if Rockliff had reacted in a different manner but he hoped the game would not become so precious that such interactions became off-limits.  

"The best advice would probably be to say nothing but I thought I would take the opportunity to try to nip it in the bud, ask what happened, he answered, all fine," Scott said.

"I certainly didn't want to follow up on the incident post-game so I saw an opportunity to nip it in the bud. Clearly I've failed [to stop it becoming a big deal], haven't I?"

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