'Naive way of thinking': How the Israel Folau saga scared the AFL

Geelong coach Chris Scott says it's naive to think an Israel Folau-type situation will never happen in the AFL and there's lessons to be learned from Rugby Australia's dealing with it.

Folau's Wallabies contract was ripped up for a high-level breach of the Professional Players' Code of Conduct over his controversial social media posts.

The staunch Christian had posted on Instagram in April that homosexuals, among others, would go to hell unless they repented.

The two parties are engaged in ongoing legal stoush.

Scott said on Wednesday the views of the AFL coaches on the matter had been canvassed at the annual dinner hosted by league boss Gillon McLachlan on Monday night – a dramatic step that yielded no strong resolution.

The Cats mentor said the AFL is unsure how it would handle a player publicly sharing the same views as Folau, but all acknowledged that it would be a challenge to resolve.

"I have clarity that they (the AFL) feel it would be difficult to handle and there are often opportunities to learn from other people's discomfort," Scott said.

"It's just a really naive way of thinking to sit back and pat yourself on the back and say that would never happen to us because we're such a well-managed outfit.

"There's always going to be the 'Black Swan' event that pops up and makes life really difficult for the administrators, especially if you don't learn as much as possible from these types of situations when they arrive."

"It's nice not to be going through it yourself but the first thing they'll acknowledge is that it's difficult, it's a challenge, but it has given everyone a bit of time to pause and reflect on how we might handle a similar type of scenario."

The coaches also discussed how the AFL could better handle another booing saga like that which enveloped Adam Goodes before the Sydney Swans' star's retirement.

Scott said the state of the AFL was also a hot topic for discussion and his take was that the game was in a positive place.

"There were different perspectives put forward but the one that resonated most with me is that the game's in great shape, and virtually all the metrics that the AFL values reflect that," Scott said.

"To my eye the game is much better to watch this year because of the lack of congestion.

"We're going through a little bit of a phase where some of the footy is a little bit slower and I think that will change over time without any rule changes.

"If you think this is a bit of a boring patch just wait until the smell of spring's in the air and all will be fine."

with AAP