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I suspect we've all watched a lot of football over the years. With that people have seen a lot of smothers executed. Lets say on average there has been say 5 smothers a game. Thats over 1000 smothers in a football year. Has anyone ever in their life of watching football seen an attempted smother end with a bloke knocked unconscious for 2 minutes. Serious question. I've seen some great goal saving smothers. Ones where the smotherer has got kicked or hit with the footy and everyone refers to the players bravery. Sometimes the kicker gets a sore foot or corky as their kicking action gets impeded. Ones where the player gets a fingertip to the ball and turns a goal into a point. Just a couple of points here. Brayden did none of these. He didn't touch the ball. But he didn't miss Brayshaw. Plan B was executed perfectly. People have mimicked what Brayden said on the night that it was a "football act". But in all my hours of watching football I've never seen this before. Conclusion. This wasn't a "football act". It was thuggery. Pure and simple. The worst part is next week when Collingwood take to the field he, Maynard, will get clapped and cheered every time he goes near the ball. For the thuggery he commited. Terrible AFL, I mean what an outcome.

I’ve reflected on this a lot since Thursday. My position is he should be suspended. Don’t focus on the split second he’s in the air, he made a decision, many seconds before, to run full pelt at Brayshaw and to jump straight at him. The AFL’s position should be “sure, you can do that, but you can’t do it in a way which exposes your opponent to a head injury”. The same principle as a tackle. Don’t worry about Maynard’s intent. Don’t worry about corruption or the MRO or even that it’s a final. Just focus on the action - it’s recklessness in the purest sense and should be met with suspension.

The MRO officer imo should be replaced immediately. I just learned from 360, that the Umpire Reported Maynard immediately on the ground. We have also learned that Christian, an ex Pies player, wanted no penalty and was overruled by the Top Brass at the AFL. So despite a report on the ground by an umpire, close to the incident and the fact that a player had been knocked out for 2 minutes, with his career and health impacted, Christian attempted to whitewash the whole incident and not even have it tested by the Tribunal. With the AFL heavily concerned with avoiding head injuries, the actions of Christian imo reek of conflict, ex old time footballer bias and looking after the old club and imo he should be replaced immediately. He has been the subject of much criticism, in this role and it is time for a change now. Even his total lack of support for the umpire, imo makes his position untenable. At the very least he should have referred it on for a full tribunal hearing.

The victim blaming is SO pathetic that I truly hope that if Gus does choose to retire that in a press conference he says that the AFL left him no choice. They have done nothing to ensure I am protected from cheap shots by pure thugs. And since they won’t protect me I have to protect myself. See you in court.

While we’re waiting, this is that strange place where satire and (almost) reality meet…

https://www.6pr.com.au/david-mundy-the-afl-is-trying-to-adjudicate-the-game-they-want-tomorrow-not-the-game-were-seeing-at-the-moment/ David Mundy has weighed in on the Brayden Maynard incident which has divided the football world. Speaking during his regular Monday night segment on Wide World of Sports, Mundy set the agenda off the top, setting phone lines alight. “Laura Kane stepping in signals that the AFL is trying to adjudicate the game that they want tomorrow, not the game that we’ve had in the past, and not the game that we’re seeing at the moment.” “If Brayden Maynard was falling and that was Scott Pendlebury underneath him, I think he would make a different decision than cover up and just protect himself and not worry about the other player.” When asked by Adam Papalia what Maynard should have done differently, Mundy used all of his 376 games of AFL experience when building his response. “When you’ve jumped up and you’re in the air and there’s a player underneath you, you have the ability to almost catch yourself as you’re falling on top of them. It would have been really awkward and they’d have had a tumble, but that response has a much lesser chance of resulting in serious health concerns."

Very few Melbourne supporters thought what Kosi did in round 2 was ok. I also haven’t seen a single person on this site suggest Roo should get off after he elbowed McStay in the head. Of course every supporter base is biased, but Melbourne fans don’t go around calling injured players weak, or wishing them or their family traumatic brain injuries. Ffs.

I spoke to Troy Simmons about this 2 weeks ago. He said Long would get 12 weeks if he did that now. Most importantly he is in fine nick and looks fit enough to play for the Dees today. Troy goes to the same gym - nice bloke.

Read this on Twitter.. Apparently the Collingwood lawyer is now arguing the twin towers veered into the path of the Boeing 767 on 9/11

Maynard’s defence

AFL has just missed the chance to be the clear sport of choice for parents wanting their kids to play team sports

Let’s see if Laura Kane has the balls to put this boys club farce of a league in its place.

Look at the replay It's not a smother .. it's an uncontrolled head on jump from metres away Never seen one like it before

if melbourne and collingwood play in the grandfinal you a likely to see a bloodbath AFL, is that what you want. you dont think melbourne players will not go after maynard, after what he did to one of them and got off, and you dont think collingwood will stop doing what they are doing, cox will go crazy with that knee and foot into everyone in range. god what a hopeless, gutless bunch the afl is.

Toby Greene has just gone up a Millenium in my opinion!😁

Interesting reply from Max after Sam Edmund post.

Time for the MRP and AFL tribunal to be completely independent of the AFL. No former players, no former officials, no one with ties to the AFL. Completely separate from any one in the AFL

Our clubs been hard as nails about this. We haven't taken a single backward step. We've leaked to the media. We've made our voice very well heard. This is purely on the AFL.

Really starting to question whether I can be bothered following this competition any more. So disillusioned with the double standards to the point of corruption where the power brokers in the AFL manipulate everything from the draw to the tribunal outcomes to maximise profits. This is a prime example.

If Maynard is cleared it sends a loud message to the mothers of Australia: don't let your sons or daughters play Aussie Rules, the code that couldn't care less if they get their head smashed and hides behind legal technicalities to protect offenders.

It keeps having the stink of the domestic violence perpetrator. Maynard the routine thug with a long record of low acts and cheap shots that could have caused an injury like this at any time. He's got a crowd of 'mates' who cheer him on every time. When it finally happens there is a moment where he and the mates actively celebrates the 'successful' hit, and then reality kicks in and he goes into high-speed excuse mode 'oh it was just one time and it was an accident and they also contributed to it I really love them and I'm really upset about it all please stop victimising me' and the mates all rally around him for his record of tough-but-fair because 'there hasn't been an injury like this before. Followed up with the thoughtless and rote-learned sorry ritual, 'I brought choccies, luv, you can have them as soon as they've removed the wireframe from your jaw'. Seriously, bringing wine to someone with severe concussion is a special touch which just emphasizes how much the apology was about the look. It'll be a very short space of time before we see anyone who is 'still hanging on to that past issue' being mocked and sidelined in the media. The other analogy would be to the chronic dangerous driver being shocked that they killed a couple of children after spinning out of control, and begging for sympathy because it was a 'freak accident' that had no control over.

People are laughing at this but I’m not joking! How lucky are we to have an All Australian ruck just waiting in the wings.

In fairness to the club i think we've handled injury management a lot better then what we did last year. Can't help when you pick up impact injuries in finals. The worse part is even our depth is thin as they're also on the injury list. Someone like a Luke Dunstan would have been handy replacement for Brayshaw and even Ben Brown for JVR.

Give it up. It is painful. No-one cares you got offended on someone elses behalf who'll never read this anyway.

She’ll care when Anita Frawley brings Gus as her witness in her litigation against the AFL won’t she?

Hope Brayshaw sues the AFL. They’ve said they think it’s ok to KO players by running into them after a smother attempt. AFL have failed their duty of care.

Gerard Whateley interviewing Toby Greene tonight on 360: Whateley: So Toby, let’s start with the Maynard case. Did you have empathy for him throughout the week, with all the scrutiny he had to put up with. Greene: No.

I thoroughly recommend watching our Women's team chook. They are wonderful to watch right now. https://www.afl.com.au/aflw/video/1030305/aflw-match-replay-gws-v-melbourne?videoId=1030305&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1694379600001&references=AFL_MATCH:5758

Watch the side angle again. I’d love the biomechanics expert to explain how Maynard is tucked up with his shoulder leaning in as the ball is kicked, but Brayshaw has time to pull both arms in front and try and push off. If there’s not enough time for one, there seems to be for another. This is hot garbage.

No coincidence she is a lawyer. And leaving the legal dimension aside, as football manager she knows that the white noise of ex footballers and media that only care about numbers (viewers, listeners, clicks, mentions etc etc) is a dangerous furphy in terms of the future of the game. The 'optics' on this could not be worse. Particularly given the success of the Matildas at the world cup and the buzz they will generate at the Paris Olympics. How many parents of young boys and girls will want their kids to play a sport that gives short thrift to serious head trauma? Kane has earned my respect that's for sure (not that i didn't respect her before).

Dropping over to my house unannounced is the quickest way to get on my shyt-list, period. The second-quickest way is to go into a long account of a dream you had the previous night.

Serious question. Two actually It's youwho accidentally knocked out a player. You want to go around to see him asap to apologise. But of course you are aware emotions are running high, particularly only two days since the incident. And given the seriousness of the injury, being a reasonable and relatively smart person (or at least having such people around you giving you good advice) there is every chance the player you have knocked our cold for two full minutes may not be well enough to receive visitors or may have medical staff, family, friends or teammates with him who a very likely not wanting to see you. So two questions: Do you drop in unannounced ie without calling ahead? Do you ensure the visit is kept secret because you don't want people to misinterpret the reason for your visit, question your sincerity or create any more media noise that could be upsetting to the victim? Oh, and one more question. Do you bring a bottle of wine when you visit as a gift for a player who has had a significant head trauma?

I loathe Geelong but kudos that they took their medicine when Stewart knocked out Prestia early in the game last year and it cost Richmond a win. They didn't whinge nor drum up fan and media hysteria. I guess it serves Collingwood's '19th man' agenda to keep them all frothing. But it just makes everyone else hate them all the more.

I am not sure if anyone noticed but he came out really late onto the ground after half time. Did not run with the team, did not do the warm up. My guess is that they were assessing it and injected it, and he went on to have a great second half. Did I mention how passionately I would like to punch Cox in his teeny tiny nuts?!

To allow just one individual to wield so much power reeks of bad governance in the first place. The AFL board needs to be held accountable for allowing this to happen.

Good thing we have Grundy.

The fact that the AFL themselves (Gleeson) instructed the tribunal to consider the fact that Maynard may miss finals/important games says all you need to know about the whole case.

Gil McLachlan, what a legacy you've delivered. Match day experience is horrible. The game is becoming a mess The MRO is a farce. Roy and HG have been calling you the murderer for years. They are spot on. You've killed this game for many of us. But not your financial partners hey.

Quite honestly nothing would make me happier than to watch GWS or Port absolutely physically destroy them. Go on Toby, let’s test out that mangled arm of his.

It comes down to training the unconscious mind to react. It takes 0.2 seconds for the signal to travel from the eye to the brain so a conditioned unconscious mind is what makes the reaction. If it was up to the conscious mind in the cricket example the ball would pass by before the conscious mind would even begin to move the body. Batting training is training the unconscious mind. Someone who picks up a bat for the first time is guaranteed to miss because their (slower) conscious mind is what's in charge in that moment. In Maynard's split second decision, his unconscious mind reacted by turning his right shoulder into Gus's head which comes down to prior unconscious programming in his past as a thug. The way he plays the game is testament to this.

I've been following football for over 60 years, Tony. I can't ever recall a "smother" where this has happened, can anyone else? 60 seasons, more than 10,000 matches, more than 1 million minutes of football. It really is a freak accident or something else ...

So how do you live with yourself then Polly?

You've extracted the essence of this event. Maynard always intended to collide with Gus. That was the whole purpose of his effort. In his mind he was hoping to dusguise his real motive with the comical theatre of a smother. He's an opportunist...he can't help himself.

Amazing how well co-ordinated players can be when trying to win or do something with the ball, the turn into such clumsy oaths when there isn't any incentive to control their actions. Similarly, I think Tommy Hawkins got away with a reckless act when he threw his arms out everywhere and broke Steven May's face a few years back. ...Melbourne player, no story to answer here.

Yes, Laura is a breath of fresh air And Christian putting his own job on the line is weird. What was he worried about? Is he that biased towards Collingwood and if so, how on earth can he hold such an important position for so long? Bizarre Caro mentioned that Gil & Dillon wanted the case to go straight to the tribunal as well

@Redleg 'So despite a report on the ground by an umpire, close to the incident and the fact that a player had been knocked out for 2 minutes, with his career and health impacted, Christian attempted to whitewash the whole incident and not even have it tested by the Tribunal.' Spiking the umpires report is the deal breaker for me, the MRO is supposed to be for incidents caught on telly. An immediate direct report by the umpire carries serious weight, the fact that the media was overlooking this with all the commentary from former 'thugs hard men', goes to some serious jury tampering. The umpire being close and with a good view is highly relevant. Have seen some media is starting to pick up on the shoulder as a separate action to the smother. So seriously, MC can really GAGF, don't want to hear from him again, and the MRO needs to be rejigged. And serious props to Laura Kane, past her 1st test in the big chair, stone killer to face down the pressure around this.