Injuries & Suspensions
- Thread starter Impromptu
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I'm tipping things will be ok between Gaff and Hamish, they are reportedly good mates, Hamish will no doubt be disappointed though.
Firstly I want to be clear I am not condoning or making excuses for Gaff... Breaking a guys jaw is not good and he deserves to be punished.
The above shots taken milliseconds apart show Gaff's right arm on Brayshaw's shoulder, then as he strikes with his left in the next frame... Brayshaw drops his height by a fair margin, Keep in mind Brayshaw is actually 2cm taller than Gaff. Now knowing Gaff's great character and personality... I think his intent would have been to hit him in the shoulder or chest to get rid of the unwanted attention he was copping off the ball all game long. It clearly went wrong when Brayshaw suddenly dropped lower than Gaff expected and instead he collected him in the head.
He deserves a harsh penalty but a lot of the hysteria being bandied about by the media and in particular the Victorian media about this being a thug act or dog act, is just pure rubbish, I don't believe Gaff's intent was ever to hit Brayshaw who it seems he is actually mates with, in the jaw. It was just a poorly judged action.
RE: I think his intent would have been to hit him in the shoulder or chest
Gaff, a thug? Something just didn't sit well with me regarding the incident, as I think it must have been an accident, or some other explanation, but what???
Well, LITS, maybe you just got it right, as what you said makes more sense to me then Gaff intentionally hurting his mate.
Gaff, a thug? Something just didn't sit well with me regarding the incident, as I think it must have been an accident, or some other explanation, but what???
Well, LITS, maybe you just got it right, as what you said makes more sense to me then Gaff intentionally hurting his mate.
Yeah I tend to agree with you on this one mate, Gaff normally hard pressed to get a contested possie let alone knock a blokes head off.
Looks like he tried to give him one in the sternum and Brayshaw shifted his centre of gravity down expecting a bump. These people calling for assault charges and whatnot is ridiculous
I’m generally an advocate for judging the action and not the result but with it resulting in a broken jaw and a handful of missing teeth it has to be taken into consideration.
I don’t really buy the out of character stuff though, if you hit someone hard enough to break bone, and one of the strongest bones in the body at that, it’s definitely a part, however small, of your character. Your character is defined by your actions and probably unjustly this will be his character defining moment for most punters.
Gerard Healey calling for 12 is a bloody farce, if he gets more than 6 he’ll be hard done by in my book.
Stick to floating around the packs mate, this contested stuff isn’t your cup of tea.
Looks like he tried to give him one in the sternum and Brayshaw shifted his centre of gravity down expecting a bump. These people calling for assault charges and whatnot is ridiculous
I’m generally an advocate for judging the action and not the result but with it resulting in a broken jaw and a handful of missing teeth it has to be taken into consideration.
I don’t really buy the out of character stuff though, if you hit someone hard enough to break bone, and one of the strongest bones in the body at that, it’s definitely a part, however small, of your character. Your character is defined by your actions and probably unjustly this will be his character defining moment for most punters.
Gerard Healey calling for 12 is a bloody farce, if he gets more than 6 he’ll be hard done by in my book.
Stick to floating around the packs mate, this contested stuff isn’t your cup of tea.
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Agree... 12 weeks and a Police investigation is just stupid stuff.
Lets remember that early last year, Jordan Lewis punched Patrick Cripps in the head and broke his jaw, Lewis received 3 weeks for that punch.
And just 6 or 7 weeks ago, Jeremy Cameron, A player with a long history of poor onfield acts, Elbowed Harris Andrews in the head which knocked him out, and sent him to hospital with Bleeding on the Brain. The penalty for that was 5 weeks.
Breaking a guys jaw is bad, and I wish Andrew all the best in his hopefully quick recovery, But in my opinion causing Bleeding on the Brain is far more serious than a broken jaw, and could have actually been life threatening stuff for Harris Andrews.
Lets remember that early last year, Jordan Lewis punched Patrick Cripps in the head and broke his jaw, Lewis received 3 weeks for that punch.
And just 6 or 7 weeks ago, Jeremy Cameron, A player with a long history of poor onfield acts, Elbowed Harris Andrews in the head which knocked him out, and sent him to hospital with Bleeding on the Brain. The penalty for that was 5 weeks.
Breaking a guys jaw is bad, and I wish Andrew all the best in his hopefully quick recovery, But in my opinion causing Bleeding on the Brain is far more serious than a broken jaw, and could have actually been life threatening stuff for Harris Andrews.
I haven’t seen that image before and I do agree it does support the notion he was trying to get him in the chest, rather than the chin (which seemed completely out of character for Gaff imo).
It sounds like intent it still satisfied whether high or low though so it probably doesn’t make a difference to the sentencing but perhaps his character is less tarnished..I dunno. This will be revisited Hall/Staker like for a long time, if not the rest of his career unfortunately.
It sounds like intent it still satisfied whether high or low though so it probably doesn’t make a difference to the sentencing but perhaps his character is less tarnished..I dunno. This will be revisited Hall/Staker like for a long time, if not the rest of his career unfortunately.
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I’m in a chat with some avid footy followers so I posted those images and this is what one of the guys said. He’s actually a chair on a sports tribunal, non afl though.
“The image shows gaff a lot higher (upright and on his toes).
Those pics are surprisingly misleading. People will assume brayshaw dropped all the way when the second photo is a closer shot or zoom in. Black line and boundary line slightly lower and distance from base of photo to players far less.”
Another person commented that when Gaff hit him in the jaw, he didn’t check if Brayshaw was ok. If it was an accident, he would’ve, especially if it was his mate.
“The image shows gaff a lot higher (upright and on his toes).
Those pics are surprisingly misleading. People will assume brayshaw dropped all the way when the second photo is a closer shot or zoom in. Black line and boundary line slightly lower and distance from base of photo to players far less.”
Another person commented that when Gaff hit him in the jaw, he didn’t check if Brayshaw was ok. If it was an accident, he would’ve, especially if it was his mate.
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I haven't really spoken up because I didn't want to make a knee-jerk reaction to the situation.
We try to look for reasons as to why people do things, seemingly out of the blue, but the bottom line is this: Andrew Gaff engaged in an act of thuggery. It doesn't matter if 'he was just trying to do a jumper-punch' or that 'it is uncharacteristic behaviour' - he put a man in hospital for six weeks. This kind of behaviour needs a serious crackdown both at club and AFL level. If Gaff gets a six week sentence I would consider it to be a very lenient one.
We try to look for reasons as to why people do things, seemingly out of the blue, but the bottom line is this: Andrew Gaff engaged in an act of thuggery. It doesn't matter if 'he was just trying to do a jumper-punch' or that 'it is uncharacteristic behaviour' - he put a man in hospital for six weeks. This kind of behaviour needs a serious crackdown both at club and AFL level. If Gaff gets a six week sentence I would consider it to be a very lenient one.
To me it looked like he was trying to punch him in the chest and missed. These guys are punching and whacking each other all day. I don't think Jeremy Cameron was trying to send Harris Andrews to hospital either. I don't see how we can applaud these blokes for hurting someone within the rules and then talk about police charges if it goes wrong. In all my years of watching footy I can remember seeing very few actions that were completely out of line. Barry hall would be one. If the AFL really wanted to avoid these situations it would suspend and officiate on anything that wasn't purely intended to win the ball. Brayshaw had no idea where the ball was when he was blocking Gaff from trying to move forward. I think Cotchin got off on a jumper punch because there wasn't enough force. Gaff deserves a lot of weeks but to say it was a dog act or deserves a police charge really questions the whole integrity of the game as I see similar actions every game even though the resulting injury might not be as serious.
For what its worth i think 5 or 6 weeks would be a fair punishment. I don't think for 1 minute he had the intent to break his jaw or anything along those lines. Gaff was quite clearly gutted by what he had done, and will remain on his mind for some time to come. However if you attempt to hit someone and the hit goes astray for whatever reason then you have to cop whats coming to you. I was amazed Barry Hall only got 7 weeks for his hit on Staker, that was a deliberate punch to the face and deserved at least 12 weeks. As for police charges against Gaff, give me a break. Here in Victoria armed gangs of thugs can do what they want and not go to jail, but thats a whole other rant.
You honestly can't compare JCameron and Gaff incidents at all. JCameron's act was at least a football act. It occured right after the ball was spoiled, within the vicinity of the ball. I'd consider bumps as the same. They're part of the game.
Gaff, Hall, Bugg incidents are off the ball, non-footy related acts. They're not part of the game so I have zero sympathy for any player stupid enough to throw a punch. Players don't consent to being punched in the face off the ball when they get on the sporting field, just like people don't consent to being punched in the face whilst in public. I don't quite understand why a different set of laws apply to sport but that's just me. For everyone else, we can agree to disagree on that point.
Gaff, Hall, Bugg incidents are off the ball, non-footy related acts. They're not part of the game so I have zero sympathy for any player stupid enough to throw a punch. Players don't consent to being punched in the face off the ball when they get on the sporting field, just like people don't consent to being punched in the face whilst in public. I don't quite understand why a different set of laws apply to sport but that's just me. For everyone else, we can agree to disagree on that point.
Is there any truth to the rumour (Ok I made this all up..)?
...that the Carlton coaching crew didn't want to the media to focus on our appalling effort against GWS.
Given we probably already had a $6m offer (over 5 years) for Gaff and knew he wouldn't go near Carlton in a million years just said to him 'Don't worry about coming, keep the money, just do something completely insane on the field against Dockers so the attention is taken away from us...
Seriously though, I don't think we are going to see players throwing any 'open handed' (or otherwise) punches in the near future. Too late for poor Brayshaw and to a much lessor extent Gaff in learning this lesson.
...that the Carlton coaching crew didn't want to the media to focus on our appalling effort against GWS.
Given we probably already had a $6m offer (over 5 years) for Gaff and knew he wouldn't go near Carlton in a million years just said to him 'Don't worry about coming, keep the money, just do something completely insane on the field against Dockers so the attention is taken away from us...
Seriously though, I don't think we are going to see players throwing any 'open handed' (or otherwise) punches in the near future. Too late for poor Brayshaw and to a much lessor extent Gaff in learning this lesson.
They're all footy related acts. They're all trying to win a game of footy. Players throw punches all the time. There are players who make it part of their game to throw a punch to the stomach or the kidneys as part of their tackling motion. Hurting opponents is a revered part of the game. Players didn't consent to a boot in the kidneys when they played but god help someone if they got in front of Tony Lockett when he was going for a mark. But he is considered one of the best players ever for his toughness! I don't condone the action but I also don't think it's that black and white. Andrew Gaff was trying to move down the ground with the play and he had an opponent who had no interest where the ball was. If I decided to stop someone walking down the street by repeatedly pushing and blocking them I should expect a broken jaw as well. I think sport has to be seperated from general public life, not because it's special, but because it is combative and the line between being competitive and being dangerous is finer than normal life. I've seen punches thrown on the golf course!!! If you are going to go hard on this action because you don't consider it part of the play then you have to go hard on anything that you consider is not part of the play and that includes the taggers and run with players. If the AFL is serious about cleaning up the game Gaff should have been given a free kick before he threw the punch and the punch would never have happened. The umpires are happy to give a free kick for blocking a ruckmen at a ruck contest. Angus Brayshaw was doing exactly the sam thing to Dangerfield a couple of weeks ago and Danger gets a free kick. As I said before I don't for one minute condone what Andrew Gaff did and he deserves a suspension but the frustration of someone wanting to just play football has to be addressed or we will be discussing this again.
maybe start paying free kicks for all the arm punches , gut punches that all players do from all teams and we might not have these incidents.
Last time I looked striking or attempting to strike was not in the rule book , perhaps if umpires started umpiring to the rules again the game would be a lot better.
As for Gaff his intention was to strike , where he was aiming for is irrelevant , sadly he inflicted serious damage.
4-6 weeks.
100 metres from the ball , and from the vision I saw not one Freo player went and flew the flag , even more so for a 18 year old kid.
Hopefully Brayshaw recovers and it dies not affect his career.
Last time I looked striking or attempting to strike was not in the rule book , perhaps if umpires started umpiring to the rules again the game would be a lot better.
As for Gaff his intention was to strike , where he was aiming for is irrelevant , sadly he inflicted serious damage.
4-6 weeks.
100 metres from the ball , and from the vision I saw not one Freo player went and flew the flag , even more so for a 18 year old kid.
Hopefully Brayshaw recovers and it dies not affect his career.
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If the umpires had been doing their job properly and payed free kicks to players held and scragged way off the ball... then incidents like this would not occur.
It happens in every game to all the superstars of this league and it is a real problem. The AFL say they want to get more free flowing footy and a better spectacle and are talking about all these potential rule changes... Well the answer is right in front of them, Make sure they have competent umpires who stop the niggle, scragging and holding. The players will soon stop the holding if they are constantly giving away free kicks and we would have cracking 1 on 1 battles like the Dangerfield v Fyfe battle of a couple of years ago.
The stars are the ones who make this game great to watch. Not the dirty grubs holding the stars behind play.
It happens in every game to all the superstars of this league and it is a real problem. The AFL say they want to get more free flowing footy and a better spectacle and are talking about all these potential rule changes... Well the answer is right in front of them, Make sure they have competent umpires who stop the niggle, scragging and holding. The players will soon stop the holding if they are constantly giving away free kicks and we would have cracking 1 on 1 battles like the Dangerfield v Fyfe battle of a couple of years ago.
The stars are the ones who make this game great to watch. Not the dirty grubs holding the stars behind play.