IMAGINE you're Johnny New-Kid, embarking on your first season in the AFL. You do OK in a few early games and you are asked to meet the media after a big game at the MCG.

With the throng waiting outside, the club's media manager sidles up to you.

"Listen, mate, we don't want you to get into any trouble here, so there are a few no-go zones," he says, before rattling off a list of topics on which you shouldn't comment.

"You need to steer clear of umpires, reports and the tribunal, timekeepers, drugs and the AFL drug policy, alcohol, player behaviour and minders, tanking, finals, teammates other than glowing tributes, opposition other than praise and the AFL," he tells you.

Then he says: "And make sure you don't give away any club secrets … don't tell them anything about what is said in team meetings. And if it sounds a bit controversial, just say 'no comment'."

He finishes with: "Be confident and friendly, present well, look them in the eye and try to give them some interesting answers. Get the sponsors in if you can, but make sure you don't stuff up or the AFL will come looking for you. Or worse still, the coach."

What do you reckon you would be thinking? Too hard. Not worth it. Get someone else to do it.

And what happens if all of your teammates think the same thing?

I've exaggerated, of course, but that's the type of scenario we could be looking at if the AFL gets too sensitive about players' comments.

I was surprised and disappointed this week to see Jonathan Brown cop a "please explain" from the AFL for his suggestion on television that Buddy Franklin's bump on Michael Doughty last Saturday night was "like a fly hitting your head".

He was merely passing judgement on the degree of contact after admitting the match review panel would look at the incident, saying he hoped it would be less than 100 points so Buddy wouldn't miss a game.

What's wrong with that? It wasn't personal, it wasn't prejudicial to the case and it wasn't detrimental to anyone.

If you take that sort of innocent comment out of the game, you won't have much left.

I understand it's all about the AFL brand and the image of the game. The league feels an obligation to protect itself. Fair enough. It's the league's job.

I fully supported them jumping on James Hird over his comments a couple of years back about umpire Scott McLaren. That was personal and detrimental, as Hirdy admitted.

I'm happy for the AFL to police comment on umpires closely because it can affect the recruitment of new umpires, especially in developing markets. I've seen that first-hand in Queensland.

But in an era of unprecedented media coverage, football needs players who aren't afraid to offer opinions as long as it is done in a reasonable fashion, with a commonsense approach.

It doesn't mean they are always right, and that there isn't an alternative view, but fans want to see and hear from the players. What they say and do stimulates discussion and helps to promote the game.

Ex-players and media types can say what they want — as they should be able to. As a kid growing up, I loved listening to Rex Hunt, E.J. Whitten and Lou Richards. They were terrific for the game.

But that's only a small part of a 24/7 football media landscape in which the demand on players has reached an extraordinary level.

For young players, that can be intimidating.

After all, they are drafted because they can kick, mark, run and handball — not because they can speak to the media and think quickly on their feet under pressure.

So, we need to help educate players in this skill, just as we do with football-specific skills.

And we need to understand that football needs players in the media, so we can't make it too hard for them. We need to cut them a bit of slack.

Players should always take priority over ex-players and the ever-growing multitude of media celebrities, but if the AFL hands out a $5000 fine every time a player says something the league doesn't quite agree with, the source of comment is going to dry up pretty quickly.

The AFL relied enormously on Browny to promote the Hall of Fame tribute match. He did a super job.

Then, when he commented recently on the "concrete" nature of the Gabba cricket pitch, the league was behind him. It supported the push for a drop-in wicket.

But for a throwaway line on a contact incident, he was under the pump. Not quite right to me.