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Quite honestly anyone who thinks that Maynard didn’t see Gus running wide open and unable to protect himself and didn’t think “I’m gonna nail him here”, is delusional. Maynard has always been a dirty thug masquerading as a bog ordinary footballer. Did he think I’m gonna try and impact the kick? For sure. I have no doubt he did. Did he also think he can nail him at the same time? Absolutely. Did he try to knock him out? Probably not. Did he try to inflict pain? Yes he did. A player has never tried smothering a kick with the point of their shoulder. Never in the history of the AFL has a player gone from running with arms out to try and defend a kick to turning midway in the air with an arm tucked in “accidentally”. It’s not a natural movement or reaction of someone who thinks to himself “oh gees this has gone a bit wrong I better try to limit the damage here” The reality is that Maynard knew exactly what he was trying to achieve. It was a ridiculous attempt at a smother. I was very strong on Kosi getting suspended for a very similar action. It was poor and dangerous. Smith didn’t even get a graze tho. Gus was knocked out and is facing yet another career threatening concussion. If Maynard isn’t suspended then I’ll just about be done with this game. You cannot keep protecting your [censored] agenda.

I hate the argument it’s a football act, well so is tackling and if you get that wrong and knock someone out your gone this is no different

What's all this about Hibbo? After the first quarter he was right on top of Elliott, who is a VERY good player!!

yes you are alone

I hope for once our club sent in a scathing medical report as opposed to being the nice guys. Photos of Gus’ shiner, documents about his previous condition, impact to his and his family’s well being following this nasty collision. Bury this thug and bury his club. Hope he misses finals and it burns in his guts forever. Payback for all the cowardly thug acts he’s committed over the years, including this one that could end the career of an actually BRAVE player who plays the ball. Not the man.

Finally made it home after a long and sad evening at the MCG watching the Dees. I haven't read this entire thread, but I can only imagine how disappointed we all are. Here is my 2 bobs worth. The first quarter was inexcusable. A simple lack of hunting the ball. From 1/2 way through the 2nd quarter to the end of the game, we were the better team, but we were SO unclean by hand and foot, especially compared to the (I hate to say it) brilliant kicking of the Pies. Daicos, Pendlebury, Sidebottom, Hoskin- Elliot and others. Thank goodness for our back 6. The Pies run and carry through the middle of the ground cut us apart all night, but our backline repelled it time and time again (1st quarter aside when they were asleep) I don't think we can wait to draft a monster forward, or wait for Jefferson who isn't big enough. We need an aerial beast who has forward craft, contested marking ability, and who can make the play. We also need an elite kick who can deliver inside F50. We also need a different perspective in our forward line. Apart from Fritsch, very few players lead. We kick to stationary targets (and this appears deliberate, an intentional set up) Those 3 missed goals in the last quarter were vomit-inducing misses when we had so much momentum. Max Gawn is outstanding. Apart from a few flashes here and there, Kozzie was atrocious. Actually, he was a dead set liability at times. Lack of effort and intensity. Collingwood will not win the flag on that effort. We still can. Maynard, the faux tough guy, is everything I hate about d**k head footballers. 4 weeks suspension please, but he will probably get off. Get well Gus. I hate Collingwood.

Anyone who says its purely a footy act needs to be sure in their own mind that Maynard would have turned, braced and leant his body weight and momentum into Brayshaws head if it had been a teamate there instead of Brayshaw. The only answer is of course not.

Late head high severe impact feet are off ground duty of care - zero

If he doesn't get a serious suspension it will be open slather on pretending to smother and then knocking people out. I'm not saying this was his intent ( but how do we really know) the fact remains Gus was stretchered off after a player launched into him like an f16. We can never really know ones true intent but the results are irrefutable. # ProtecttheheadHoliday4Maynard

Nobody runs in that hard to smother, not even a brain dead moron like Maynard His pure intention was to inflict heavy physical contact Hes a serial offender and a thug that deserves a 3 week suspension

Just walked into my shopping centres the first thing I see is 4 people sitting down in Collingwood polos drinking coffee. Get stuffed

Exactly. No one gives a dam about Angus in the Media. It is disgusting Maynard could have swung to the left and the game goes on… He didn’t, thus Brayshaw’s career must be in some jeopardy

Watched it a few times. He could have put his hands out to Brayshaws shoulders/ upper chest to absorb the impact with his arms, but instead he chose to put his shoulder out to transfer all the impact to Brayshaws head!!

Hard to cheer for Mason Cox when he's getting destroyed by a player he is trying to illegally hit. One of the worst blights on our game is Cox. Nice little forceful tug of Trac's leg and high hit on Clarry too. The sooner he departs back to the US the better.

6 months ago I was leading into an end zone against a younger opponent (side by side/same direction) going at maximum speed, competing for a high disc, had launched to catch, with feet off ground (maybe 50-60cm off) when another team mate (small/brave & new) ran straight in front of me with <2-3m space. I was still able to tuck up so I didn't collect them in the head and get my arm out of way so I took the impact on the chest. Maynard had choices, his head was turned tracking where Gus was, and lined him up, don't tell me this incredibly fit athlete, whose reactions I couldn't have touched even 20 years ago didn't have time. That aside anyone notice Cox's dog act, trying to twist Trac's leg in the 4th, really needs to be called out was deliberate.

The love for Maynard on this site make me puke. He jumped off the ground. Brayshaw had no serious forward momentum and was wide open. Maynard could easily have used his hands to block but turned his shoulder and smashed him in the head. It was at worst intentional at best careless. He then get a chance to plead his case. In the meantime we lose a key player possibly costing us the game. Spare me the bs it a footy incident.

Langdon got slaughtered by old man Sidebottom, let's not sugar coat it.

But it’s ok because Maynard is his mate 🙄🤮😡 All these heroes on this site and in the media declaring this a footy action. Well this unnecessary brutal action may have just cost a player in his prime his career. A player whose brother got king hit and had his jaw broken in an AFL game. A player whose fiancé buried her father as a result of head injuries. A player who has never once pulled out of a contest, knowing full well it could be his last. A player who was wide open, kicking a football, and had no right to be hit by a thug going for maximum impact in an attempt to “spoil”. I wished Maynard ill last night. I now wish that he misses finals and sits in the guilt of what he’s done. I hope that guilt and missing finals eats him alive and ruins his career.

What a grub Tom Morris is though. Happy to set Laura Kane up for abuse. This is the same guy who was exposed as a homophobe and racist. Leopard and spots

Pickett doesn't go missing, he works incredibly hard, always has a close tag and works in a forward line without a true key forward and one that regularly has 30 players within the arc. Watch the replay and tell me he's not working his backside off, then watch Salem who must be injured.

I fall out of love with football just a little more every season. Melbourne being a good side is keeping me going. But I am holding on for dear life.

To suggest that this was a football act after the recent history of head high hits and the AFL’s mantra of the head being sacrosanct is ridiculous. At best, Maynard was careless and that should be sufficient in the circumstances, to make it a three game suspension.

Watched the replay. My advice to all here that were at the MCG: don't watch it. You'll be even more [censored] off. On TV it seems like a far bigger domination than it looked like in person. Pies seem to [censored] themselves at every single contest. Some of their goals... my god. They had at least 6 goals from turnovers I reckon. And they weren't even high pressure turnovers. Mostly from our F50 entries. Goodwin says we played good for 3 quarters. I know he's trying to keep a positive face but gee whiz if we play like that against Carlton it is straight sets comfortably. They will mop us up. We quite literally dominate around the ground until the flanks at which point we become slow, unsure... every single entry seems 1-2 seconds late. We lacked dare and pace going forward and it is so evident on TV. Carlton's defense is very good, they are very well matched against us. We have absolutely blown a home Prelim here, make no mistake. Last night was a team spooked early on, and then a team that choked late. They fought hard but that is a very tough loss to swallow.

The fact that the media interviewed that [censored] after the game to allow him the temerity to suggest what he did was a ‘footy act’ is [censored].

Petty and Melksham would have been handy. 😳

Their lawyer has already got him off and 3 Brownlow votes.

I hope David King is in the media this week saying how Melbourne should get 75% of the seats against Carlton because it's our home game 🤨

Of all the guys this could have happened to, why did it have to be Gus? Genuinely upset over this. Maynard is a dog, and he’ll cop his 3 weeks here. There is no way a hit with this sort of outcome can be excused, regardless of intent (which isn’t necessarily a defence these days anyway). Maynard knew damn well what he was trying to do and he succeeded.

The footage of Jack pushing Maynard after the incident sums up Maynard. Not until Hoskin-Elliott gets involved does Maynard push back. Then when Jack isn't looking, Maynard grabs Viney by the neck... Maynard is a coward and a thug.

my god i am so angry. here we have a defenceless player with a history of concussion and the media are defending the bloke who knocked him out and potentially put him career in doubt. What else could he do?? literally anything but aim the point of his shoulder into his head. you smother with your arms. clumsily collide and fall down together. he deliberately collected him The arrogance of collingwood just expecting to get their way

Given the club's indigenous first nations programs, there is no way they could have signed Walked.

Been saying it for 3 years get rid of Stafford

Um you do realise his changes are pretty much forced changes? Not sure if you paid any attention but Brayshaw will miss and JVR may also with a suspension. His No need for the personal insults for giving a opinion.

I understand everyone is frustrated, but this is one ugly postgame. Love the folks that came back here after a loss just to wind people up. This one is stinging a fair bit because the game was on our terms since half way through the second quarter. 25 points down at the last change in a low scoring affair is a massive lead, but you could sense our supporters knew it wasn’t over and we nearly got there. May and Maynard had a very interesting exchange in the middle of the ground after the game, a lot of pointing going on. Let’s not give up on the boys and hopefully a lot of us turn up next week.

Protect himself from what? Brayshaw wasn’t contesting a ball, like the Cripps incident. Anyone that thinks Maynard didn’t know exactly what he was doing doesn’t know the character of the bloke. Fact is he turned the shoulder to bump him. He initiated the contact. He elected to leave the ground. It’s careless high impact. He is gone. It’s actually not much different to Kozzy on Smith this year. Initially Pickett jumped to affect the kick and then turns mid air

Simple rule. Don’t leave your feet and lose control. Failure to take reasonable care. Nobody is missing anything.

Whatever happens can we just START FAST AND HUNGRY? Show us 0-3 in the last 3 finals burns. Like, actually burns. Enough to come out breathing fire from the FIRST SECOND until the LAST SECOND, and bury these cheating [censored]. We can’t go down 0-4 and 2 straight sets against the blues. We just can’t.

No, we're winning the flag against a filth team that doesn't include Maynard And guess what? Gus makes it back into the GF winning team whilst Maynard watches on The above is a true story

The hypocrites like Barrett talking about all the head injury lawsuits coming to the afl and how the AFL should take them seriously, now turn around and say it is a "footy act" and shrug their shoulders and walk away..... absolutely pathetic clickbait hypocrites ... particularly comments by past players party to those law suits....with the same old school mentality There was probably 50 more ways maynard could have done the smother, which involved a basic awareness of his actions and the players head.... actually under the circumstances his action were very predmediated to make or threaten contact, he had no chance of actually reaching the ball so that is why he lined Angus up.... then at the last second he got negligently selfish by rolling his shoulder, and afterwards self-righteously arrogant by declaring it a footy act. No way. you are out 3 weeks! Get serious AFL.

Yes Harrison Petty

I was within smelling-distance of that bunch of mutants behind the goals last night, and unfortunately I did hear that chant. I scanned the faces of that mob more than a couple of times last night, and was genuinely able to console myself with the the thought that no matter what happens on the scoreboard, the ultimate losers were right over there. If aliens were observing us, one of their conclusions would be that any humans born with a missing chromosome were issued with a black and white jumper.

For the love of god, can Kossie please stop flying for speckies over the pack and crumb the contest instead!!! If I ever hear again "one day he'll take one of those" I'll spew up It's not school footy or an exhibition game, he's so wasting his immense talent

I love how many Collingwood supporters are suddenly physics experts - should seriously stick to holding the stop/go sign

I think they should get Richardson, Dangerfield and Maynard to be interviewed by Danny Frawleys wife and daughter Danielle on TV! To talk about how they are treating duty of care & CTE! pack of hypocrites! and Gil & Dillon & Christian!

If last night's loss was such a season ender and concession of flag favouritism to the Pies, why don't we poach their dominant key forward? Oh wait... They didn't have one.

The 21 premiership still provides me with heaps of comfort and masks the hurt, otherwise I’d be right there with you. I only ever needed to see one, I’d love to see more, but I only ever needed to see one. The euphoria of that night trumps all the hurt losing could ever give me.

It actually doesn't matter whether it was a football action or not. Look up the rules mate. Grading can either be classed as intentional or careless. If you're saying it wasn't intentional, then it was careless. There are then four impact grades for careless conduct. 1) severe impact (high is 3+ matches). 2) high impact (high is 2 matches). 3) medium impact (1 match). 4) low impact (fine). Explain to me how that was careless and low impact.

In my view Stafford has to go, forward line is a joke. No movement, and yes we also get it in slow but it’s easier to get it in there fast if there are targets moving for you. Painful to watch, and every time the pies shot forward in the first half there’s a forward one on one in space. Kill me. Are we wasting the premiership era? Well we have a flag so it’s not a total bust. That makes us a good team imo. Great teams win multiple flags (Brisbane, Geelong, Hawthorn, Richmond). People remember the great teams, they don’t remember the one-and-done’s. We’ve got 3 weeks to get to great but it’s going to take a major change in thinking about how the forwards move and I don’t think there’s time. Can we go again next year if we bow out in a semi or prelim this year? Yes but it gets harder, and we need some fresh blood. We clearly hoped (I certainly did) that BBB and TMac had more in them, that was wrong. We needed a key forward, couldn’t get one so tried Grundy, hasn’t worked. Annoying bit is we can almost get it done with the personnel we have, but not if 18 players are standing flat footed inside 50 every time we go forward. We’re almost great.

ANB 'Was rarely sighted" Standard comment by Joeboy on Alex ,who played a bloody good game.Not his fault we lost.

We have the worst kicking efficiency in the competition into 50. Dead last. That's the only thing we are even bottom 8 in. Put whomever you want up there, it's the players kicking it in there, their vision and how they are instructed to kick it in there that has to change. Was hoping Hunter would make a difference but he quite often he doesn't kick to the right spots either. It makes the forward's life very difficult. Until we move on from Trac, Oliver and Viney, my opinion is it won't change. McVee should have been given some midfield time this year. It doesn't kill to try such things. 10 minutes on the ball won't see our entire game plan fall apart. Too late in the season now. We can still kick well for the next month and win it. That's what separates us winning and losing. Our contest and defense are there every week, our kicking skills are not.