Chris Fagan says he is not surprised by the commentary surrounding the Tribunal's decision to downgrade Charlie Cameron's charge to a fine on Tuesday night.

Cameron was staring at a one-game suspension after being charged with rough conduct for a tackle on Jake Lever, but Brisbane argued successfully to allow the small forward to face Geelong on Saturday night.

The Tribunal used "exceptional and compelling circumstances" to downgrade the charge, citing Cameron's clean playing record and off-field character assessments.

Geelong coach Chris Scott said it was incumbent on clubs to use similar defences in the future.

Speaking on Friday morning at the Gabba, Fagan it was a relief to have Cameron available, adding that he wasn't surprised by the broader commentary over the past 48 hours.

"There's always debate isn't there, about what Tribunals decide or not decide," he said.

"If you're asking me was I surprised, no I wasn't surprised that it was debated."

Brisbane's coach was not keen to buy into the Tribunal's reasoning, other than to say it would have been remiss of the Lions to not exhaust every avenue available.

"When you go to the Tribunal you use everything at your disposal to try and free up your player, which every club does, and if a bloke's got a good record, he's played 200 games and never been suspended for a match, you'd at least give that a mention, otherwise you'd be remiss in your duty to that player," he said.

Fagan was adamant the tackle did not deserve a suspension.

"We're talking about impact here. Was Jake Lever hurt? No, he wasn't," he said.

"Did he go off for a concussion test? No, he didn't.

"Was there a medical report from the Melbourne Football Club about his condition? No, there wasn't.

"So, on every measure, the impact of that incident was low, in my opinion."

Fagan confirmed Jarryd Lyons would be Brisbane's sub on Saturday night, after the veteran midfielder was recalled to replace injured forward Zac Bailey.