In his weekly look at the AFL, dual North Melbourne premiership captain Wayne Carey says any AFL sanction against St Kilda's Leigh Montagna for bumping injured Carlton rookie Ed Curnow during Monday night's game was a nonsense.

Curnow had damaged his AC joint during the first quarter of the match, gone off the ground to get attention from the Blues' medical staff and then been cleared to return to the field of play - even though he was clearly hampered, and holding his arm by his side.

Speaking on Tuesday morning, hours before the AFL hit Montagna with a charge of making "unreasonable or unnecessary contact with an injured player'' - and a one-week suspension - Carey said Curnow had been passed fit to play by Carlton medicos and therefore had to be a legitimate target for St Kilda players.

''The simple facts are he's fair game,'' said the four-time all-Australian captain. ''If the doctors have sent him (Curnow) back on the ground, and he's declared fit ... he's fair game.

''The St Kilda players would think: he's ben sent back out on the ground, he's been declared fit by the doctors and he's stepped over the white line - so we can bump into him. I think that's fair.

''(Montagna) shouldn't be cited unless he's done something illegal - he has hit Curnow high or behind the play.

''But bumping happens every second of every game: you see full-backs bumping full-forwards, half-backs bumping half-forwards. This happens all the time. So how can he be cited if he's been declared fit? Sorry, no case to be answered, simple as that.

''If he (Curnow) wasn't fit, the person who should be cited is the doctors who for sending him back out. If anyone has called this incident un-Australian, or said it shouldn't be happening in football, well the doctor should never have sent the player back out on the ground.''

In his weekly Vidcast with BackPageLead, Carey also sympathised with Nick Riewoldt's horror run in front of goal, saying his goalkicking yips were purely a mental thing now - and very little to do with his technique.

But he described the Saints' captain as a genuine champion of the game and backed him, and the Saints, to come good over the next month or two and win enough games to make the final eight.

Looking ahead to Friday night's blockbuster at the MCG between Collingwood and Geelong, Carey said he was looking forward to going to the match between the league's two unbeaten teams - and said the Pies' week off would have no affect on their momentum, and they would start the match as favourites.

To see the full BPL Carey Vidcast, click here ....

(Editor's note: the game referred to in the introduction is clearly supposed to be St Kilda-Carlton not, as Charles Happell states, St Kilda-Geelong.)