GENERAL manager of football operations Josh Mahoney says the club was disappointed with the suggestion that Jesse Hogan staged in an incident with St Kilda’s Jake Carlisle.

Hogan went to ground, after Carlisle pushed him over in the goalsquare, during Melbourne’s win over St Kilda at Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

Speaking on 1116 SEN on Monday night, Mahoney indicated the club was frustrated with the notion that Hogan had staged for the free kick.

“We are happy for the general public to make opinions on different things with our players,” he said.

“But when it’s going down the wrong path, we think it’s our right as a footy club to come and protect our player, and try and right some wrongs, which is what we’re trying to do at the moment,” he said.

Mahoney said the club felt vindicated by match review officer, Michael Christian’s decision, after Hogan was not charged.

“The MRO do that really well. They’ve explained the incident and they’ve explained what they saw and they’ve explained the reasons for their decisions, as they’ve done with all cases that they’ve gone through this year,” he said.

“I think that helps with the communication.”

The MRO said it had assessed the incident, but no further action was necessary.

It said: “On the behind-goal vision, Carlisle turns toward Hogan and makes contact with an open hand to the throat area of the Melbourne player. The umpire in control of the play is within five metres and pays a free kick to Hogan for high contact. It was the view of the match review officer that there was high contact made to the Melbourne player and the contact was not excessively exaggerated by Hogan. It was also the view of the match review officer that the force used in the contact was below that required for a charge to be laid, and no further action was required after the free kick was paid.”