Gaff to meet king hit victim
SUSPENDED West Coast star Andrew Gaff will soon meet with Andrew Brayshaw in an attempt to make peace with the injured Fremantle player.
Gaff was on Tuesday suspended for eight matches – the longest ban for a single onfield act in a decade – for striking Brayshaw with a blow that broke his jaw.
Brayshaw’s father, Mark Brayshaw, expects the face-toface meeting between Gaff and his son to happen within days.
The meeting will be facilitated by another of Brayshaw’s sons, Hamish, who is a close friend of Gaff’s and a West Coast teammate.
“Thankfully Hamish is in a position to connect the two Andrews hopefully in the next day or two … and the two of them can shake hands and move on,” Mark Brayshaw told SEN radio on Wednesday.
“It can potentially get nasty but I’m really hopeful it won’t.”
Gaff’s suspension is the longest in the AFL since St Kilda’s Steven Baker was banned for nine games in 2008 after being found guilty of four separate offences in one game.
It’s also the equal longest suspension for a single act since Essendon’s Dean Solomon was outed for eight matches for striking Geelong’s Cameron Ling, breaking his cheekbone, in a 2008 fixture.
Gaff again publicly apologised to Brayshaw after being banned by the tribunal.
“I’m really disappointed. I own my actions, and it really hurts a lot,” Gaff said.
“The last 48 hours have probably been the toughest couple of days of my life … I see myself as a caring, gentle and measured person and that’s why it’s disappointing.”
Mark Brayshaw said he had also received an apology from Gaff’s father. “He and his wife were upset and embarrassed and apologetic – and it’s just a horrible thing to be in,” he said.
Brayshaw senior said he told Gaff’s father: “Please don’t, in amongst all your considerations, don’t worry about us.”
Mark Brayshaw said the AFL should examine introducing a send-off system in the wake of the incident.
He was driven home from the game by his son Hamish and they analysed footage of the incident.
“Hamish said to me, ‘it’s Andrew Gaff’, it’s one of his best mates and the most delightful bloke you have ever met,” Mark Brayshaw said.
AFL great Greg Williams was among those who urged Gaff to not let the incident define his career.
Williams, a dual Brownlow Medallist, went through a tribunal storm in 1997 when he received a nine-game ban for pushing an umpire.