SYDNEY forward Tom Papley has slammed Melbourne's Tom Bugg, calling the Demon's crude hit on Callum Mills a 'dog act'.

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.

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

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Bugg is likely to be referred directly to the Tribunal, and he faces a lengthy ban after a week where the fallout from Bachar Houli's hit on Jed Lamb dominated the headlines.

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

"It was a pretty dog act," 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."

Former skipper Jarrad McVeigh was on the bench when the incident happened and told ABC radio on Saturday it was tough to take action within the rules.

"You're fuming, you're not happy, you want to retaliate, but then you've got to be smart about it," McVeigh said.

"I think we had a free kick … that got overturned (when the Swans remonstrated with Bugg), which wasn't ideal at that point in the game.

"You want to send a message to that player but then you've got to do it in the right way and be smart about it. It's a tricky one but I think we went about it in the right way."

The veteran said Mills recovered well from his concussion.

"He did want to come back on I think at one point but obviously he was concussed I assume, but he was fine after the game. He was in good spirits, probably just more disappointed that he got donuts (zero disposals) on the night."

Bugg is believed to have apologised to Mills after the game, and later said he would cop whatever consequences came his way.

"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."

WATCH: Embarrassed Bugg will cop the consequences

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."