The AFL is slowly transitioning from a league where anything goes, to a league where anything goes so long as you’re genuinely trying to win the ball, to a league where it doesn’t matter what you were doing or thinking, if you hit a bloke high and he’s hurt you’re having a holiday.
To me, Maynard would have had no idea his jumping for the ball would end up in Brayshaw being knocked out. I don’t think I I’ve seen it happen before. There was probably just as much chance of Maynard being knocked out if he lands a half beat earlier and Brayshaw runs into him. This is one in a thousand stuff.
And what sort of precedent does a suspension really set? If Maynard touched the ball, would this be a report? If he jumped straight up, what then?
So to me it’s not something worth suspending, because there’s no teachable moment. We’re not going to reduce the number of concussions because this exact chain of events probably wouldn’t happen again for a couple of decades anyway. It’s what separates it from bumps, dangerous tackles, or, dare I say it, a marking contest.
I also reckon the AFL should have discretion to say ‘well, we’ve never adjudicated this before, and you probably thought you were entitled to contest the ball that was in dispute and missed your hand by an inch without weighing the one in a thousand chance you could knock someone out, but you’re not, and the next bloke who does this is getting rubbed out.’
And I know some people think Maynard had ill-intent and I’ll never persuade you otherwise, but I don’t even think Toby Greene could triangulate that situation in so little time to execute a hit like that, and he’s the best at it I’ve seen in the last 20 years.
