WEST Coast coach Andrew McQualter has backed the five-year ban handed down to a fan for throwing a lemon at star Eagles defender Reuben Ginbey.

Ginbey was struck on the back of his hand by the lemon just moments after the club's 30-point win over Essendon a fortnight ago.

The lemon flew about 30m in the air before hitting Ginbey, who last week expressed his shock at the incident and said it was fortunate it didn't hit him in the head or the eye.

“It didn’t hurt or anything, but it’s just a shock,” he said a few days after the game.

“Like I felt something hit me and it was a lemon. I rolled it back to the crowd.

“It was lucky it didn’t hit me on the head or on the eye. It didn’t bother me personally, but we don’t want things being thrown by the crowd, especially hard things like lemons.”

Vision showed the thrower also had a second lemon in his hands, which he didnt use.

The fan, who was not a West Coast or Essendon member, has copped a five-year ban from all AFL and AFLW games.

"You can't do that, so I think it's the right decision," McQualter said on Thursday.

"We've got to protect our players."

Ginbey could miss the rest of the season after tearing his left quad during last week's six-point loss to Port Adelaide.

The 21-year-old is West Coast's best defender and McQualter is backing his team defence and pressure further up the field to help cover the loss of Ginbey, who recently signed a contract extension.