If, in the opening round of the 2024 season, Brayden Maynard were to be involved in another smother incident like the one with Angus Brayshaw from last year’s finals series, he would be cleared.
Of course, that’s not what the whistling-averse AFL hopes, with its tweaked tribunal guidelines announced on Tuesday.
But it is the only conclusion to be drawn when examining the judgment of tribunal chair Jeff Gleeson KC, which led to Maynard being cleared last season, next to the rule the AFL Commission rubber-stamped on Monday.
The clash Collingwood vice-captain Brayden Maynard had with Melbourne’s Angus Brayshaw is etched in football folklore. Credit: Eddie Jim
Under the new rule, players who elect to leave the ground in an attempt to smother will be liable if there exists “any reasonably foreseeable high contact with an opponent that is at least low impact” unless a player has taken “all reasonable steps to avoid that high contact and/or minimise the force of that high contact (for example, by adopting a body position that minimises the force of the high contact).”
If the AFL thinks the new rule will ensure no repeat of the Maynard-Brayshaw drama, it is whistling Dixie.
The tribunal ruling that cleared Maynard was explicit: the Magpie defender could not have reasonably foreseen high contact with Brayshaw when he left the ground and he took reasonable steps to avoid the high contact.
Heavy collision: Brayden Maynard crashes into Angus Brayshaw.Credit: Channel Seven
Gleeson accepted that Maynard could not have foreseen the collision on the basis that Brayshaw had changed direction after kicking, still images supporting “Maynard’s evidence that he did not expect Brayshaw to be where he ultimately saw him to be after he took his eyes off the ball and looked down to see Brayshaw.”
If it’s accepted Maynard could not reasonably foresee contact, as the tribunal did, until he was in mid air in the opening minutes of the finals, he could not be found to reasonably foresee contact in round one, 2024.
Overruled: Why Maynard would escape ban for another smother
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07.02.2024
If, in the opening round of the 2024 season, Brayden Maynard were to be involved in another smother incident like the one with Angus Brayshaw from last year’s finals series, he would be cleared.
Of course, that’s not what the whistling-averse AFL hopes, with its tweaked tribunal guidelines announced on Tuesday.
But it is the only conclusion to be drawn when examining the judgment of tribunal chair Jeff Gleeson KC, which led to Maynard being cleared last season, next to the rule the AFL Commission........
© The Sydney Morning Herald
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