Alex Rance’s punch to the back of Jack Watts’ head was a cowardly act, and Jack Viney’s jumper-punch tantrum wasn’t much better.

The shameful incident occurred during the Tigers’ loss to Melbourne at the MCG on Sunday night. Sadly, AFL stars and commentators failed to condemn it.

Journalist Caroline Wilson said on Footy Classified that Viney was simply ‘flying the flag’. Ex-Essendon champ Matthew Lloyd loved it too. He thought Viney, based on his jumper-punch, was captaincy material.

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Can they be serious? If so, it reflects poorly on what footy’s figures consider leadership qualities.

Viney’s action send the message that violence solves problems. It doesn’t.

A true leader would have pointed out the moral weakness in Rance’s action, not shown his own weaknesses.

Watch video of the incident below:

Alex Rance has been reported following this incident with Jack Watts #AFLDeesTigers https://t.co/JqS5ngGcbg

— AFL (@AFL) April 24, 2016

Viney went to Melbourne’s elite Carey Baptist Grammar and was identified early as a footy leader.

So too was Rance. He attended Perth’s elite sports factory, Guildford Grammar, and is one of the league’s best defenders, a Jack Dyer Medallist, and in Richmond’s leadership group.

He’s also a practising Jehovah Witness who once considered throwing in football for missionary work.

How his assault on Watts fits in with his religious faith is something Rance has clearly pondered.

“It was a really stupid, emotional act, which was completely out of character,” he said on Tuesday.

“It’s certainly something that I don’t want to be remembered for.

“It does hurt that people could think I’m a thug when I’m so against that.

“I have had a few low points in my career but … I haven’t been this low in a long time.”

The AFL Match Review Panel (MRP) offered Rance a three-match suspension, reduced to two, if he pleaded guilty.

Not surprisingly, he took the two.

Viney escaped suspension and is still eligible for this year’s Brownlow Medal for the competition’s ‘fairest and best’.

If the AFL was serious about curbing on-field violence, and taking a stand against one-punch thuggery, both players deserved long suspensions.

Rance’s action was cowardly, and the days of flag-flying for team-mates must end.

There have been a number of cowardly one-punch attacks recently in the broader community, some with fatal consequences.

Like some victims, Watts was hit in the back of the head. He was lying face down at the time, and was incapable of defending himself.

It was not two players squaring-off or running at each other at speed. Nor was it a ‘brain fade’ or the act of a frustrated man.

That’s just the hot-air of coaches and commentators who like flag-flyers and a bit of ‘biffo’.

Rance’s was ‘a coward punch’, plain and simple.

In suspending him, the MRP concluded that there was “intentional conduct with a medium impact to the head”.

Such statements do not address the key point.

To hit someone in the back of the head is dangerous and sends the wrong message to a community in which this type of assault is becoming more prevalent.

Patrick Cronin, a 19-year-old Lower Plenty footballer, was allegedly killed by a coward punch to the back of the head earlier this month while enjoying a night out with his teammates.

It’s usually young males – not females – who are one-punch cowards and they have mates who come in and ‘fly the flag’.

In small-town Melbourne, Australian rules is an important part of the culture.

The AFL carries economic, political and cultural clout, and with this comes moral and social responsibility.

A sporting body like the AFL can and should set standards for the broader community.

In past years, the code has done much to weed out the snipers; those who whack opponents when they are not looking or can’t defend themselves.

The code has a history of these one-punch players, some of whom are celebrated in AFL circles.

The AFL must take a tougher position on these actions.

Why not make this a better game played by men and women who we can all look up to?

Dr Tom Heenan teaches sport history at Monash University’s National Centre for Australian Studies.