The Lions have broken their silence after vision of a Brisbane player receiving an injection was broadcast during live game coverage over the weekend.

During Brisbane’s clash against Fremantle on Sunday, 24-year-old forward Oscar McInerney was captured on cameras receiving an injection to his shoulder in the player’s race at Optus Stadium.

Watch the disturbing video above. WARNING: Video may be distressing.

The injection was needed after McInerney received a knock to his left shoulder, most likely causing some type of AC joint injury.

"It's probably just an AC joint, so that's just a local (anesthetic) injection into that left shoulder," Nick Dal Santo told Fox Footy.

"Not a huge deal for the footballer. They get stung, there's no pain.

"He'll be numb for the next 45 minutes, he'll be perfectly fine to play out the rest of the game.”

Veteran Channel Seven commentator Mark Stevens said he had never seen such an incident on TV before.

The Brisbane Lions hit back at the controversy on Monday, saying the club was "just unlucky" that there happened to be a camera present at the time.

“It was just a knock on his AC, having a jab is not unusual in that injury because it is a relatively safe option,’’ club football manager David Noble said, according to The Herald Sun.

“He got it in the second quarter, played all the way through, but got another knock on it in the last quarter, he wanted to play on so we decided to give him some pain relief.

Play Video WATCH: Scores were level when the siren sounded after the Dockers v Lions clash.. and Michael Walters had a kick to win it. WATCH: Scores were level when the siren sounded after the Dockers v Lions clash.. and Michael Walters had a kick to win it.

“It was in the race to our rooms, the doctor thought it was an appropriate spot to have an injection and I haven’t heard from the AFL at this point in time.

“We were just unlucky there was a camera down there and we were disappointed when it got broadcast to the public.’’

Painkillers are legal under AFL rules, but are usually only administered in the dressing rooms, out of the range of cameras.

Stevo has since confirmed that the AFL are looking into the incident, saying the league doesn’t want such images broadcast to the fans.

Others didn't see the incident as an issue, with Channel Seven reporter Tom Browne saying injections are just "part of life".