CARLTON coach Mick Malthouse declared defender Simon White's fractured neck was a reminder of why the AFL is so vigilant over protection of a player's head and neck.

Malthouse described the league's strict rule as "a beauty" as he announced White won't play again this season.



The Blues coach said the club was thankful the defender escaped more serious damage after he was crunched when trapped on the turf with the ball while playing with VFL affiliate Northern Blues at the weekend.



"I don't want to make it too dramatic, but what it is it's reinforcement of the rule that's thankfully at the AFL and that hopefully will filter down very strongly through football played underneath that," Malthouse said.



"It's not a Mickey Mouse rule, it's there for the safety of players. And I think it's a real reminder of how fragile sometimes ... we think we're big and strong, you see the players and they do weights and they've got size about them.



"He (White) is not a young kid, he has got some good size about him. But hit in the wrong area at the wrong time and things can be a very, very poor prognosis. In this case, he's going to come up ok.



"The most important thing is his safety and the reinforcement of the AFL rule. It's one of those ones that's a beauty.



Round 18 Barometer



Malthouse said White came off late in the last quarter and the Blues had wisely decided not to risk putting him back on the field.



"Later, his neck was still stiff and they got it checked out. Sure enough, there was a fracture," he said.



"Any fracture around the neck is bad. He will be in a brace for eight weeks.



"Was he lucky? I guess, anyone who gets hit there and feels a crunch or a crack is lucky ... we've already seen with the young bloke (Casey Tutungi) down at Geelong who broke his neck and he has a young family and so forth.



"These are the sort of injuries that we dread. Simon is semi-lucky, I guess, it could have been worse. Fortunately, we were able to look at it and get him right."



White must wear a brace which extends from his neck to his waist to protect the damaged vertebrae, but Malthouse is confident he will be ready to return in 2014.



Your club's run home



"He will be right for next year, but he won't be playing for the rest of this year, which is a real shame because he's a player who has come off a couple of bad injuries and we've cemented him in the side, albeit he has been in the reserves," Malthouse said.



"He was due to come back (into the senior team) this week.



"But he could over the next eight weeks think about what could've happened and now get right for next year.



"He's very disappointed he's not playing. I think it's too early to say that he's looking at it and thinking what could've been. I'll involve him in the football club. Even though he hasn't played a lot of games, he's a senior player. So we'll involve him in the club, whether it's seniors or reserves, in some capacity.



"The first thing he'll do is come to grips with the injury and then we'll give him an opportunity to go home (to WA) and come back and get involved again."