Watch explosive moment footy coach and journo CLASH as debate rages over controversial headlock: 'Are you serious!?'

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Tensions were palpable in the Fox Sports studio on Monday night as Mark Robinson and Luke Beveridge went head-to-head over the weekend's talking points.

Western Bulldogs coach launched a staunch defence of his forward, Cody Weightman, after questions were asked over the free kicks he received during Saturday's win over North Melbourne.

Kangaroos coach Alastair Clarkson set tongues wagging by urging umpires to be wary of 'getting milked' for free kicks after several questionable calls went Weightman's way.

Responding on AFL360, Beveridge suggested Clarkson had been 'baited' into making the comments by the media, and disagreed strongly with Robinson's suggestions that the frees were soft. 

Singling out an incident in which North star Jackson Archer caught Weightman high with his arm as the small forward lowered his body, Beveridge snapped: 'Are you condoning, 80 metres or however far away from the play it is, that players can do that?

'Is that what you're saying? So what has Cody done there that anyone else wouldn't have done?

'All he's done is try to get out of a headlock! And yet he's been criticised for it. Are you serious?'

Luke Beveridge and Mark Robinson came to blows on AFL360 on Monday night

The explosive exchange played out as follows...

Luke Beveridge: 'You know I'm gonna dance down the pitch on this one.

'Sometimes we're talking continuums, and if we've got bravery up this end and cowardice up this end, Cody Weightman almost falls off the threshold on the bravery end of the continuum.

'We're talking about a young fella who's played with a dislocated elbow, three times that's happened before he's needed to fix it with surgery, and he plays with a velocity and a courage like the best small forwards do it in the game, that's why he's such a good player.

'And there wasn't one of the decisions that was made that wasn't correct. So how he can get caught in the crosshairs is beyond me. Now I'll assess him up this end, the ones who are pointing the finger at him, they've got to self-assess as to where they sit on the continuum. But he's a star, he's got that much courage and I'll protect him and go into bat for him for however the day is long.'

Mark Robinson: 'Do you think people are questioning his courage? No-one's questioning his courage, he's a fantastic player.

LB: 'What are you seeing in the examples?'

MR: 'The example when Archer's put his hands up and he's stuck his sort of head under the arm, I thought that was an old forward pocket...

LB: 'The one off the ball? He's grabbed him around the head off the ball.

MR: 'The back of the- yeah.

LB: 'It's a blatant off the ball incident and it's not a free kick?

MR: 'I don't know if it was blatant.

LB: 'So are you condoning, 80 metres or however far away from the play it is, that players can do that? Is that what you're saying? So what has Cody done there that anyone else wouldn't have done? All he's done is try to get out of a headlock! And yet he's been criticised for it. Are you serious?

Beveridge defended small forward Cody Weightman from scrutiny

MR: 'I wouldn't have thought it was a headlock.

LB: 'What has he done wrong there? He's been grabbed around the neck? So what's happened there is there's been a journo bait Clarko, Clarko's virtually said look don't make decisions like some of the decisions we're talking about in the Geelong game that have a significant influence on the outcome, Clarko's saying let some go if they're trivial. Not one of Cody's was trivial, they were all there. I don't know whether he was baited for too long, but some of the names that Cody's been called by a journalist, I mean have some respect for the kid.

MR: 'Seriously, what names? I'm not aware-

LB: 'Are you not reading other material, are you only paying attention to what you wrote?

MR: 'There's a lot of stuff to read these days.

LB: 'I'll leave that to you to go and read the other stuff.

MR: 'I will, I'll hunt that down tonight.'