GAFF’S SEASON LIKELY OVER AFTER SHOCK ‘KING HIT’

WEST Coast midfielder Andrew Gaff faces a likely seasonending suspension when he fronts the AFL tribunal following his swinging punch that broke the jaw of Fremantle’s Andrew Brayshaw.

Brayshaw underwent surgery on Sunday night to repair his jaw and three displaced lower teeth, which have been put back into place and splinted. The 18-year-old has been ruled out for the remainder of the AFL season.

Gaff will be sent straight to the AFL tribunal for the offthe-ball punch, which was unprovoked and has been widely condemned.

Fremantle coach Ross Lyon said he was distressed by the “king hit”, and referred to Barry Hall’s seven-week ban for a punch on Brent Staker in 2008 as a precedent for what the tribunal might hand down.

Gaff apologised for his actions after the match, saying he did the wrong thing and it made him feel sick.

But his remorse won’t save him from a lengthy ban.

Melbourne’s Tom Bugg copped a six-match suspension last year for striking Sydney’s Callum Mills in similar fashion to Gaff’s punch.

However, Mills wasn’t seriously hurt and was able to play the next week, leading the match review panel to classify the incident as high impact rather than severe.

In contrast, 18-year-old Brayshaw will miss the rest of the season, making a severe impact classification a dead certainty. If Gaff cops a sevenweek ban, it means his season will be over, even if West Coast reach the grand final.

A six-week ban would free him to play in the grand final – but only if the Eagles lose in the first week of finals.

Gaff was widely known as a fair player prior to the incident – the Eagles wingman had never been fined, let alone suspended, during his previous 174 games. It is open to the tribunal to consider a player’s disciplinary record when settling on their punishment and it’s possible a guilty plea would lead to a reduced sanction.

Gaff becomes a restricted free agent at season’s end, meaning he may have played his last game for West Coast.