‘It is breaking me’: Brayshaw brother launches attack on AFL judiciary

Hamish Brayshaw, brother of forcibly retired Melbourne footballer Angus, has launched a swingeing attack on the AFL’s judicial system, accusing it of being inconsistent, selective and an existential threat to the game.

“The tribunal and the match review panel are single-handedly destroying the game,” Brayshaw said. “You are making it impossible to play in good spirit, you are making it impossible to adjudicate, and you’re not far off making it impossible to support.”

‘it is breaking me’: brayshaw brother launches attack on afl judiciary

Hamish Brayshaw as a West Coast player in 2020.

Brayshaw played one game for West Coast in 2020 and is now co-captain of East Perth in the WAFL. He was making his thoughts known in an open letter to the AFL delivered on Backchat, a Youtube podcast he hosts with former West Coast player Will Schofield and journalist Dan Const.

Barely drawing breath, Brayshaw detailed confusion and contradiction about football and non-football acts, about intent and about the extent to which outcome does or does not weigh on decisions.

“But it depends on the state of the game and the time of the year, it depends on whether or not we need to make an example out of someone,” Brayshaw said, “but don’t forget if they have a clean record in the past and do charity work, but obviously that can only matter once and never again, because from now on that doesn’t count; it depends on the player and the team they’re on.”

Angus Brayshaw was knocked out by a flying smother from Collingwood’s Brayden Maynard in last year’s qualifying final and has retired on medical advice. Another brother, Andrew, plays for Fremantle and their father, Mark, played for North Melbourne and later worked in footy administration.

“I have grown up all my life surrounded by football,” said Hamish. “Playing football, watching football, my family has been engrossed in the AFL system for decades – and I have absolutely no idea what is going on any more.”

About Angus, he is poignant. “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,” Brayshaw said. “As much as it killed me to watch that, I can put my feeling for Angus aside and say that down to the nuts of and bolts of it, Maynard was trying to smother the ball in a qualifying final, so technically it was a football act.

‘it is breaking me’: brayshaw brother launches attack on afl judiciary

Peter Wright crashes into Sydney’s Harry Cunningham.

“You certainly didn’t care at all for the outcome there, and Brayden went on to win a premiership. 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.”

Brayshaw was puzzled that Essendon’s Peter Wright and GWS’ Toby Greene copped four matches and one match respectively for similar acts, and Port Adelaide’s Jeremy Finlayson, for a homophobic slur, got less than Wright.

He was bemused that GWS’ Jesse Hogan was not suspended last week despite admitting swinging with force at Carlton’s Lewis Young because, the tribunal ruled, the blow was negligible. “He swung a fist at a bloke’s face and because it didn’t hurt, you haven’t given him a week,” Brayshaw said. “Punish the action, not the outcome – unless the outcome is they’re OK.

“Ask my little brother Andrew if an intentional swing to the face has the potential to cause harm. Incredible.”

In 2018, Andrew Brayshaw’s jaw was broken by a punch thrown by West Coast’s Andrew Gaff. Gaff was suspended for eight matches.

Brayshaw was perplexed that Adelaide’s Matt Crouch got a match for “picking the ball up the way every single kid is taught to do” and that Brisbane Lion Charlie Cameron was reprieved “for being a nice guy”, but West Coast’s Tom Barrass wasn’t. “The get out of jail free card only appears once in the deck, apparently,” he said.

Brayshaw returned to his theme of mystifying inconsistency. “I can’t physically watch the Melbourne Demons play football any more because my brother’s brain is going to be f—ed for the rest of his life,” he said, “and you didn’t think that was enough for a week off.”

Brayshaw said the AFL’s protocols for player protection and game integrity were broken.

“Before they can be fixed, you need to actually understand the criteria you want to govern the game,” he said. “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.”

The AFL has been contacted for comment.

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