Carlton captain Marc Murphy hits back at AFL sledge speculation

Carlton captain Marc Murphy has hit back at speculation surrounding the nature of a sledge about his wife which St Kilda have admitted was inappropriate.

Murphy was incensed at the Saints' sledging, understood to be highly personal in nature, during Saturday's AFL match.

He directed words at Jake Carlisle while the opposition defender was injured on the ground.

Murphy addressed the social media storm surrounding what was said in a statement on Twitter.

"I would like to respond to highly inappropriate social media commentary that has escalated in the past few days," Murphy said on Monday.

"I want to be clear that these comments are untrue, hurtful to my wife and family and show a lack of respect to women.

"We would like to move on and will not be making any further comment."

St Kilda coach Alan Richardson and captain Jarryn Geary both called Murphy on Monday and admitted the remarks had overstepped the line.

"Yeah there were a couple of things that were said, a couple of comments, a bit of banter between the two groups," Richardson told Fox Sports' AFL 360.

"But we don't hide from the fact that we didn't quite get that right and we need to be better.

"We want our footy to do the talking."

Richardson denied there was a relentless campaign of sledging directed at Murphy but said he was happy with his players' response when tensions boiled over during the game.

Earlier on Monday the clubs told the AFL they didn't want action taken over the furore.

"Neither club has lodged a complaint with the AFL," an AFL spokesman said.

"The AFL has spoken to both clubs to confirm if any complaint may be lodged and we have been advised by both clubs they did not wish for any further action."

But the incident has put a possible players code on the agenda of AFL Players' Association chief executive Paul Marsh.

Geelong skipper Joel Selwood said AFL players were aware of the sledging limits.

"I think there probably is a place for (sledging) but there's a fine line in it," he said.

Essendon stalwart Brendon Goddard said during his 15-year career, players always knew the sledging line not to be crossed.

"Everyone has got a sense of where that line is," Goddard said.

"I don't want to sound too hypocritical as I don't mind a chirp on the ground but there is still essentially that line in the sand when it does come to that."

Past greats including Wayne Carey said the sledging code was simple: if it's personal, it's wrong.

"If Murph has taken it that way, then it is wrong," Carey told Triple M radio.

Bombers great Tim Watson called for players to consider a code of conduct while premiership coach Paul Roos slammed the Saints for the personal barbs, saying it was a blight on their club.