The younger brother of medically retired AFL player Angus Brayshaw “can’t physically watch the Melbourne Demons” anymore.
Hamish Brayshaw has penned an explosive open letter to the league as the match review officer and tribunal continue to deliver mixed messages.
Former Melbourne midfielder Brayshaw was advised never to play contact sport again after a string of concussions from head knocks caused visible and alarming deterioration to his brain.
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The straw that broke the camel’s back was Brayden Maynard’s intensely controversial bump on Brayshaw during last year’s qualifying final between Collingwood and Melbourne.
Maynard jumped off the ground to smother a Brayshaw kick, but turned his body and braced for contact when he knew he wouldn’t get there in time, and collected his Demons opponents on the way down, knocking him out with a shoulder to the head.
After the most scrutinised tribunal hearing in recent memory, Maynard was cleared of any wrongdoing and went on to become a premiership player three weeks later.
But rules were tweaked in the off-season to ensure that should a similar scenario play out again, the player in Maynard’s position would be suspended.
Already this year, we’ve seen somewhat similar incidents with Essendon key forward Peter Wright, who received a four-week suspension for knocking out Sydney’s Harry Cunningham in a marking contest, and GWS skipper Toby Greene, whose hit on Carlton’s Jordan Boyd in comparable incidents only cost him one week on the sidelines, given Boyd escaped unharmed.
Inconsistencies appeared again when Adelaide midfielder Matt Crouch was given a one-game ban for bumping Carlton forward Jack Carroll in the head while attempting to pick up the ball, but Port Adelaide superstar Zak Butters escaped suspension for his very similar hit on Fremantle’s Bailey Banfield.
Speaking on the Back Chat podcast, Hamish Brayshaw read out his open letter to the AFL, calling out and questioning the inconsistencies in what he still believes is “the greatest game in the world”.
“The tribunal and match review (officer) are single-handedly destroying the game. You are making it impossible to play in good spirit, you’re making it impossible to adjudicate and you’re not far off making it impossible to support,” Hamish Brayshaw said, before outlining a series of inconsistencies he has seen in just the past 12 months.
“My brother is never going to play football again in his whole life because of a jumping smother that turned into a bump that collided with his head.
“As much as it killed me to watch that, I can put my feelings for Angus aside and say that down to the nuts and bolts of it, Maynard was trying to smother the ball in a qualifying final so technically it was a football act.
“You certainly didn’t care all for the outcome there and Brayden went on to win a premiership. That is precedence. That was as big a defining moment for the tribunal as I can remember, and you went with protecting the sanctity of the game over the protection of the player.
“I’m not agreeing or disagreeing with that, but it is breaking me that you are constantly backflipping on that stance.”
After promising to keep the letter profanity-free, Brayshaw warned that he could hold it in no longer when speaking about the impact his brother’s hit has had on him.
“This is my last point and I am going to swear so beep this out if you want,” Brayshaw said.
“Tom Barrass is staying in Perth and missing one game for a dangerous tackle. I don’t think there was much more he could’ve done differently. (Michael) Walters played the game out and isn’t concussed but sure, still give Barrass a week if that’s the stance, protect the head at all costs.
“I can’t physically watch the Melbourne Demons play football anymore because my brother’s brain is going to be f***** for the rest of his life and you didn’t think that was enough for a week off (for Maynard).
“AFL, you are the greatest game in the world, but right now you’re a joke. “
“Your systems for protecting the player and maintaining the integrity of the game are broken and desperately need to be fixed.
“Before they can be fixed you need to actually understand the criteria you want to govern the game by.
“It needs to be understandable for the public and it needs to be followed.
“You can’t pick and choose when to dismiss certain things and when to change your views on others.
“It has to change otherwise this game is going to turn into something unrecognisable and it’s going to happen very quickly.”
