Play Nice Was that Gaffs last game for WC?

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TheBrownDog
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Do you really want this though? Imagine a rugby game - high tackles, punches or shoulder charges concussing players. AFL games with elbows to jaws, sling tackles concussing players. These are all technically assaults. Who in their right mind would play a physical contact sport where there is a chance players could end up being criminally prosecuted?
A line has to be drawn somewhere and currently it is in the wrong spot.

Being a director of a mining company, where it is inevitable a worker will die under my watch I think about that line all the time. Heavy machinery, bush fire, kidnap and terrorism are the things that keep me focused for staff safety.

Imagine if a dozen people died at a mine site and on current affair a director said "I did nothing despite knowing the risks". They'd be crucified on Current Affair, crucified in the civil courts and criminal courts.......and so they should be.

The same laws that oversee mining, oversee the AFL. If a players died from a Jonas, Gaff, Hall, Matthews etc type incident, I dare say jail time for AFL bosses would follow.

Personally I would draw the line at "act of one's own folly" vs "part of the game". I think most of us can see what is football and what is criminal assault.
 

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Fadge

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It's all academic now of course, but if the AFL had made a statement and given Jones a deserved holiday for his hit on Merrett, then I don't think Gaff throws that punch.
Logical statements such as this one get lost amongst all the emotive commentary.

It is spot on.

I also truly believe that if Barry Hall gets rubbed out in the 2005 Prelim for the gutless gut punch behind the play on Maguire, the Staker incident would never have happened.
 

Freoforever86

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Gaff will get 6-8 weeks.

I want to know exactly what prompted Gaff to belt Brayshaw.

Was Brayshaw niggling? I don't believe for a second that the punch was unprovoked.
So you expect a bloke that gets tagged every week and never lashes out was somehow niggled and upset by something a mild mannered 18 year old said?

Moronic statement
 

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Yup, I said this earlier too. It was a good old fashioned on-target hook.
Except the guys head is at chest height at impact! Any chance the guy lowered as he went to run off at the split second the chest punch was thrown? Why not?
Your hasty judgement has holes you refuse to notice.
 

Yidaki

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kids don't play senior AFL
You're missing the point. He isn't a kid in age, but a kid in terms of his AFL career. It's a loosely used term to describe such a person. He is an 18 year old adult playing at senior level. His senior level career is as green as it gets, hence the kid reference.
 
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dylan93

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Interesting to see the bulk of Dees fans jumping off his bandwagon. Would be very interesting to see if someone else with a clean record like a Gary Ablett did this, would people be going for the throat as hard. Don't get me wrong, this is a massively dog act and he'll get about 7 weeks minimum. But for someone with a clean record, who has a stupid brain fade like this, people are now wanting his blood like he's a consistent thug of the likes of Toby Greene...
 

Ghossein

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It doesn't matter if you expect it from him or not. The fact that anyone would call him a good guy is built on the knowledge that he has a clean record.

You wouldn't expect it from him vs. He's a good bloke. They're the same thing.
again, they're only the same thing if you want to take a binary approach to the world and think nuance doesn't exist, something you're clearly trying to do
 

mightymouse75

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What a weird game. It was just weird. Absolutely nothing leading up to it. Then bang. Bully the young player. Then tge crowd reaction, the players giving gaff cuddles. Simpson patting him on the head. The media getting around gaff. Wtf. It was humanity gone ugly. Afl lost big time yesterday
 

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Marc_Remillard

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Fallout for Gaff and future decisions:

For the coward punch (or since Danny Green is a WC supporter, a 'remorseful, unintentional, accidental, love tap'), 6-8 weeks based on precedent.

There will not be any police action whether it is warranted (on legal grounds, not emotional opinion) or not.

Freo will hate West Coast more than ever, if that is possible. Freo fans next derby will even out-boo West Coast, if that is possible.

The game will go on the rest of the year, just not with Brayshaw or Gaff playing in it.

Brayshaw's Dad will give Adam Simpson a piece of his mind next AFL coaches association meeting.

Gaff will probably not go to the Melbourne FC (not that they could have much cap space left anyway).

Hamish Brayshaw will no longer be friends with Gaff, but the rest of West Coast (aided by their "Principal Media Partner" sponsors, The West Australian Newspapers and Channel 7) "will wrap their arms around Gaff" (some cynical people might incorrectly say: in an supreme effort to keep Gaff from signing with a Melbourne club at the end of the year), the remorseful victim with good character, and 'good bloke' that he is, and help him get through this tough time, no thanks to Brayshaw intentionally ducking his head to cause severe contact with Gaff's slightly clenched hand that was simply reaching for the ball which he believed was somewhere in the vicinity of Brayshaw's chest. Then they will help counsel Gaff through the immediate remorse he felt afterwards for the downed Brayshaw when he ran straight down field and continued playing. Then the further remorse when he cried on the bench realising that Brayshaw's ducking into his outstretched hand while he was innocently trying to shake off some wrist cramp, will now cause some damage to his reputation and Brownlow chances (Mitchell chuckles...)

Gaff will leave WC at the end of the year, no longer able to walk the streets of Perth without inciting angry hecklers, Fremantle will be off limits altogether, and not wanting to play Freo twice each year for the rest of his career in Perth and risk some other spiteful Dockers player ducking their head anywhere near his soft, innocent, good blokey, outstretched hands. On the other hand, he will miss the cuddles from Simpson which does make him feel all warm and special and innocenty.
It definitely does make Gaff's decision making more intriguing, having a brother of the bloke you've just cowardly punched into next week on the same team is as awkward as it gets. The Brayshaw clan are pretty close, I can't imagine that there'd be too much sympathy for Gaff, if any at all. If one of my teammates did that to my brother I'd be lining the campaigner up in training every chance I had, but then I guess that's just one more reason why I never played VFL/AFL...
 
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I sit on both sides of this topic. Gaff absolutely deserves the maximum punishment. He threw a punch, regardless of his intent and has left Brayshaw with horrific injuries.

BUT this incident should go a long way to stamping out all the childish niggling that continues to creep into the game. I'm of the firm belief he intended to hit him in the chest. Brayshaw drops just as Gaff begins to swing, and if you look at the point contact his made, Gaff's fist is significantly below where Brayshaw's head would normally be were he standing upright.

This incident serves as a way to show the consequences of what all of these mini punches can lead to.

Further to that, people who are outraged by the "this is totally out of character" narrative. As has been mentioned countless times, the guy has played 175+ games and never even received a fine. By definition, this incident is out of character. As a Melbourne supporter I look at the way Gaff carried himself for the rest of that game compared to Bugg last year. Gaff was absolutely distraught after that game and in his post game interview you could've been excused for thinking his parents had both just been killed. Bugg carried on for the rest of the game with a false sense of bravado and his apology in the rooms after seemed far from genuine. I wouldn't be painting the two with the same brush, despite the severity of both incidents.
 

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What a weird game. It was just weird. Absolutely nothing leading up to it. Then bang. Bully the young player. Then tge crowd reaction, the players giving gaff cuddles. Simpson patting him on the head. The media getting around gaff. Wtf. It was humanity gone ugly. Afl lost big time yesterday
Afl lost the second freo jumped aboard
 

Denkverbot

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So you expect a bloke that gets tagged every week and never lashes out was somehow niggled and upset by something a mild mannered 18 year old said?

Moronic statement
Yes, I'm suggesting that Brayshaw may have over stepped the mark ... why did he lash out against Brayshaw? What did Brayshaw do send Gaff over the edge?
 

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He didn't put a kid in hospital, a kid is someone who plays junior football. He put an AFL player in hospital. His age is of zero relevance. Getting sick and tired of grown men being called kids yet are playing in a Best of the Best senior AFL football comp. Brayshaw does not deserve to be punched like that and more or less than a 28 year old. If he is a kid then head back to colts where the kids play.
men don't hit women
men don't hit kids
men don't hit 18 yo
men don't hit other men

they are all wrong but they do have a rank order in the eyes of society as they highlight the cowardness of the act.

In Gaff's defence, I think most though recognise it was uncharacteristic of Gaff to do what he did. However, he must face the music and the courts should take into account his otherwise good character and remorse.
 

Marc_Remillard

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What a weird game. It was just weird. Absolutely nothing leading up to it. Then bang. Bully the young player. Then tge crowd reaction, the players giving gaff cuddles. Simpson patting him on the head. The media getting around gaff. Wtf. It was humanity gone ugly. Afl lost big time yesterday
The only thing that comes close was when Milburn knocked Silvagni out and the proceeded to applaud the crowd who were all wanting his blood.
 

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Farang83150

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What a joke. Post got deleted. Delete all you like. There will be an asterix against Gaff for the rest of his life. People still remember Bickley nailing Wakelin and this will be no different. Hopefully it stuffs West Coast's season up. Their supporters are terrible.
So as your a Port supporter you'd think the same should be said and thought of re Tom Jonas?
 

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Should Port also be sent to the courts for providing an unsafe workplace? Considering you have sent players back onto the ground, not following the concussion testing protocols. Take your hysterical hand of it.

The afl tribunal will come down heavily on it.
Again, I only see the "not my club defence" or "what did this club do" response as a distraction and childish.

I would not defend my club for failing in it's duty of care. In the situation you raised, it could be a breach of AFL rules, it may even be a civil incident but if a serious incident like death occurred, then it would be criminal.

Please create a different thread if you want to discuss further.
 

Firestarter

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Ignore them. Weagle supporters aren’t renowned for being rational
They always think they're being driven against a wall and disadvantaged, the poor muffins. Then this happens and those posting here can only think, "What about me? It isn't fair. Gaff is a good kid, he wouldn't do this. Can't you see?"
 
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