The way in which players can push and shove in marking contests is still yet to be clarified, says Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley.

There has been widespread confusion about what constitutes the legal use of body work in a marking contest, following a contentious free kick paid against Adelaide's Scott Thompson for a slight push out on the weekend.

Umpires boss Jeff Gieschen told AFL.com.au on Monday, that the umpire had indeed made an error in awarding a free kick against Thompson.

But after seeing the vision of the incident on Monday night, Buckley is still unsure what sort of movements players can use when jostling for position

"I would've seen the same segments that you saw last night and it doesn't clear it up," Buckley said on Tuesday morning.

"All we need to know is how we need to coach it to our players and right now, half a push is ok, but a full push isn't acceptable."

"I don't know what an 80 per cent push (looks like), how that's going to be adjudicated."

Buckley said the current interpretation dictates that players need to be more subtle with their bodywork.

He said the free kick paid against Collingwood defender Ben Reid on Anzac Day was 50/50, even though Gieschen said it was the right call.

"Really we coach our players to go to the ball as often and as strong as you can," Buckley said.

"There is an art in working your player away from the drop zone, to be able to go an mark it yourself."

Gieschen said on Monday that players could use their forearm to hold their ground, but not extend it by using two movements.

"You can use your forearm as a bumper bar just to put it up if players are coming back on you, but you can't extend it out and use it to push someone out of the way," Gieschen said.

Buckley said it was a difficult job for the umpires in determining the way in which to adjudicate a contest.

"Sometimes you can win a contest by too much. If an opponent knows that they're done in a body contest, I think we're seeing some players make more of that contact than there actually is," he said.