Pies recruit Lachie Schultz under fire for 'rabbit punch' to Blue Blake Acres

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Collingwood recruit Lachie Schultz is set to come under scrutiny from the MRO for a brain fade strike to Carlton's Blake Acres during Friday night's clash.

Schultz in the fourth quarter of the MCG match retaliated to a push from Acres behind play, running back at him and striking the Blues winger's neck area right in front of an umpire to give away a free kick.

"Did he not see the umpire there? Not that we encourage this at all, but the guy in the yellow - that's the umpire," Demons legend Garry Lyon highlighted on Fox Footy post-match.

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Former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley said Schultz "obviously wasn't thinking about (the umpire)," while triple premiership Lion Jonathan Brown noted the incident "doesn't look great."

A one-week suspension would see Schultz miss the Magpies' meeting with West Coast at Marvel Stadium next week, with Craig McRae's side already set to be without fellow forward Beau McCreery (concussion).

Herald Sun reporter Jon Ralph explained that if Schultz's strike is cited as intentional and low impact, he'll cop a one-week ban.

"The old fashioned rabbit punch on Blake Acres. You'd normally think that's not too bad, but as we've seen over the last seven or eight days - Mabior Chol on Errol Gulden - anything that's a fend behind play becomes intentional now," Ralph said on Fox Footy.

"Just so easy for that to be low impact. Just a silly act late.

"To the neck is to the head - or too high - so that's intentional. All it needs to be is low impact and he misses next week against West Coast."

It comes amid a mixed season for Schultz in his first in black and white, providing great grunt and pressure - including laying seven tackles in Collingwood's win over Carlton over Friday night - with a total of nine goals from eight games.