Cork's All-Ireland winning hurling captain Seán Óg Ó hAilpín has added his weight behind efforts to alter the International Rules Series red card rule.
The Na Piarsaigh stalwart was speaking from Melbourne, where he is currently participating in a two-week training stint with AFL club Carlton Blues, who have both of Ó hAilpín's younger brothers on their books.
The 'clothesline' tackle of Chris Johnson on Ireland defender Philip Jordan which saw the Australian co-captain sent-off in last month's International Rules second Test is still a major talking point Down Under with the AFL in pre-season mode.
Brisbane-based Johnson is due to be hauled up before a tribunal in the coming days, but under the hybrid game's rules, he was allowed to be replaced by another player, leaving both sides with 15 men on the field at the Telstra Dome.
The 28-year-old Ó hAilpín, who figured in both Test matches, feels a rule change would cut out such controversial incidents from the series.
"What Chris Johnson did was overboard in the International Rules" said the 2005 All-Star nominee.
"I feel he just should've been sent off - which he was - and no one (be allowed) to come in to replace him because you've got to be penalised for an act like that which we kind of felt he wasn't.
"Someone else came in and replaced him, so it was still 15 against 15, maybe if someone got sent off - straight red card - and teams are put at a numerical disadvantage, things might change."
Carlton Blues coach Denis Pagan is getting a glimpse at what might have been this week.
At 28, Seán Óg is too old for Pagan to snap up but the 2005 All-Ireland winner is holding his own as an invited guest at the Melbourne club's pre-season training.
Pagan told the club's website: "I wish he was five or six years younger, you certainly would (sign him). The way he's come in and the way he's adapted to the Aussie Rules game is amazing."
