Contrite Gaff: I feel sick
WEST Coast midfielder Andrew Gaff says he feels sick after breaking Andrew Brayshaw’s jaw with an unprovoked punch in the Eagles’ 58-point win over Fremantle.
Gaff could be rubbed out for the rest of the AFL season after unleashing the blow in the third quarter of yesterday’s 21.16 (142) to 13.6 (84) win. The punch came as Brayshaw merely blocked Gaff’s run about 25m off the ball. Brayshaw dropped to the turf and lay with blood pouring out of his mouth.
The 18-year-old kept his mouthguard in, fearing some teeth had been knocked loose, and was taken to hospital.
Fremantle confirmed Brayshaw’s jaw was broken and four teeth were displaced, with the first-year midfielder booked for surgery last night. The incident will go straight to the AFL tribunal and could attract a ban of between four and eight weeks.
Melbourne’s Tom Bugg copped a six-match suspension for striking Sydney’s Callum Mills in similar fashion last year.
But Mills wasn’t seriously hurt, in contrast with what happened to Brayshaw.
“I just want to apologise to Andy,” a remorseful Gaff told Fox Sports. “I feel sick. I did the
wrong thing and it doesn’t indicate my character.
“My only thought is how Andy is and what will happen (to me) will happen.”
Fremantle coach Ross Lyon said he was distressed by the incident 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.
“Andrew Brayshaw was king-hit 100m off the ball,” Lyon said. “I’ve got an 18-yearold kid that I saw in a real mess when I came down to the rooms and his mum in tears as I was walking in. It’s not very palatable.
“He was pretty distraught. I gave him a hug. I wouldn’t like to see my son like that.”