Mills 'rejects apology' from 'embarrassed' Bugg

Sydney Swans star Callum Mills has reportedly rejected an apology after being KO'd by a shocking off the ball punch from Melbourne's Tomas Bugg.

The Melbourne midfielder was reported for knocking out Mills with a nasty left hook to the chin behind the play in the opening minutes of Friday night's game at the MCG.

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Mills was concussed and played no further part in the game as the Swans went on to claim a 35-point win.

Bugg is believed to have apologised to Mills after the game, but says the Swans star didn't want a bar of him.

"I saw the footage and it does look really bad," he told the Seven Network.

"I'm a bit embarrassed. It looks really bad but my genuine intent was not to hurt Callum.

"It was disappointing he couldn't take part in the rest of the game and going forward I hope he's OK.

"I went to try to speak to him after the game but could understand he didn't probably want to speak to me too much.

The 24-year-old insisted he had not intended to hurt Mills, but the incident left Swans players less than impressed.

"It was a pretty dog act," Swans forward Tom Papley told AAP.

"That's not how we go about it, it's not what the league's about. If you want to be tough, you be tough at the contest, not 80 metres off the ball.

"He'll have to deal with it. He'll cop his whack and we move on."

Melbourne stars Jesse Hogan and Jordan Lewis both copped suspensions for behind-play incidents earlier in the year, but coach Simon Goodwin denied the Demons had a discipline problem.

"It's not what we want to stand for as a footy club," he said on Friday night.

"Our boys are certainly up for playing a physical brand of footy but we've got to learn to play within the rules."

There is a strong likelihood the Mills incident will be classed as intentional conduct with high impact to the head, just as Richmond defender Houli's hit on Carlton forward Lamb was.

The AFL appeals board this week doubled an initial two-week suspension handed to Houli by the tribunal.