McGinnity made inappropriate comments during last Sunday's loss against West Coast at Etihad Stadium, and is reported to have used the word 'rape'.

The Eagle defender has been suspended by West Coast for one week. He will also undergo counselling in relation to the AFL's respect and responsibility policies and has been fined $2500. He has also issued Petterd an apology.

The Melbourne website reports that Petterd, who is set to play his 50^th AFL match this round, is keen to move on from the incident.  

"From all reports, he's a really good fella and it was in the heat of the moment and he said something wrong and he knows he shouldn't have. Apology has accepted," Petterd told melbournefc.com.au.

"It was during the game, so it was a pretty heated argument.

"It's something that I reckon he'll regret and I'll regret being a part of, but it's part of footy.”

Petterd cooperated with the AFL during its investigation into the incident.

"I haven't really taken much action," he said.

"There were two umpires standing there at the time and he said it at the wrong time - and there is isn't a right time to say it - but I've just followed with the investigation the AFL has gone through."

Petterd said it was "not his place" to say what was said, but he conceded he was "shocked" with McGinnity's words about his mother.

"You don't expect to hear stuff like that. Although you can give as much as you can get, to hear something like that was a bit of a shock," he said.

"Going in at half-time and meeting with the coaches, it was pretty much footy again after that."

Petterd said he had since spoken with his mother about the incident.

"I had a little bit of a chat with Mum and she's a bit tougher than me, so it doesn't affect her," he said.

"She's fine. She understands it's football."

The AFL applauded Petterd for his strong stance and AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson said Petterd had no reason to be embarrassed for taking action.

"There's no way that Ricky Petterd should be embarrassed, or in any way portrayed as the villain in this. He recognised, as any reasonable player should, that it was completely inappropriate. And if anything he should be praised rather than criticised for bringing to the attention of the umpire something that was clearly wrong," Anderson told The Age.