The other man at the centre of the Joel Selwood ‘chicken wing’ tackle controversy has spoken out saying he believes the action has been ‘blown out of proportion’.

Sam Wright was on the receiving end of the Geelong captain’s questionable arm hold and despite remonstrating with the umpire on the night about the act, he told NMFC.com.au Selwood should be cleared.

“At the time I was probably pretty fired up,” Wright said.

“Looking back over the vision over the last few days, I think it’s been blown out of proportion to tell you the truth.”

PRESS PLAY above to watch the Sam Wright interview | YouTube

Wright said the fact Selwood was looking directly at the umpire during the tackle suggests it wasn’t malicious.

“He was looking at the umpire the whole time.

“I knew I didn’t have the ball so I thought it was a bit iffy in that sense but looking back, he still thought I had the ball obviously and was surprised when J-Mac (Jamie Macmillan) came in and that sort of says to me that he thought I still had the ball and thought he was a legitimate chance to try and ping me.”

Wright admitted to being uncomfortable at the bottom of the back with his arm held, but pointed to a dodgy shoulder rather than Selwood’s tackle as the main cause.

“I’ve had two shoulder reconstructions, if it was the other side, it’s perfect,” Wright said.

“My shoulder doesn’t allow me to go past a certain point so that was the issue I had.

“At the time it was uncomfortable but it always is in situations like that, you know you’ve got blokes on top of you and as I said, looking back at the vision he’s just trying to get me holding the ball I think.”

Wright said when his teammate shoved Selwood in an attempt to free him, it didn’t have the desired result.

“With J-Mac coming in probably made it a bit worse but yeah, not too much in it.”

Some have likened the incident to Chris Judd’s tackle on Leigh Adams in 2012 but Wright believes they’re very different.

“Remembering back I think he (Judd) came third man in for the tackle whereas Joel was obviously tackling me there when I had the ball so it’s a lot different.”

Judd received a four-week ban and Selwood is expected to be sent straight to the tribunal when the Match Review Panel releases its findings on Monday.

North coach Brad Scott agreed with Wright’s assessment.

“I’ve heard comparisons to Chris Judd, I think that’s ridiculous,” Scott told SEN.

“I don’t think it was anything like that. I think he pinned the arm and he held it.

“People will form their own opinions, and try to make assumptions about what Joel was thinking, which I think’s unfair.”

On the evidence available, I don’t think anyone likes the look of a player having his arm pinned and pulled behind his back, but I don’t think that was Joel’s intention and Sam Wright certainly didn’t think it was his intention, either.”