Nathan Buckley does not believe that Brayden Maynard could have done anything else in his power to avoid contact with Angus Brayshaw last Thursday night.
The Collingwood defender has been sent directly to the Tribunal after leaving Melbourne’s Brayshaw unconscious when collecting him with a shoulder to the head in the Magpies’ narrow Qualifying Final win at the MCG.
Maynard was attempting to smother a Brayshaw kick when he made contact in mid-air.
Brayshaw was stretchered from the ground and will not play in this weekend’s Semi Final clash with Carlton due to the AFL’s concussion protocols, while Maynard faces a nervous wait as he and the club strive to clear his name for the Preliminary Final in a fortnight and perhaps even the Grand Final a week later.
Maynard’s former coach Buckley does not believe there was much else the player could do in that moment.
He also suggests that we must look at this from all sides of the fence and hope a judgment is made based on the speed of the game, rather than any recklessness within the incident.
“Imagine if (Jack) Viney did this,” Buckley said on SEN Breakfast.
“Viney is the type of player (who is the comparison). He’s uncompromising at the contest and he would have been absolutely desperate to get a fingertip to that kick.
“Jack Viney would have found himself in that situation, mid-air, headlong, to try to smother a ball, and then working out what he’s going to do in that split-second when he lands on the opposition player. If in fact he had time to do that.
“So it’s a fair comparison and I don’t know what the answer is.
“I certainly hope that we take the colours of the guernseys out of it.
“That we look at the circumstances of the matter and that we’re actually fair to these guys that are playing football at break-neck speed.”
Kane Cornes is in the same boat as Buckley, attempting to work out what exactly Maynard could have done to avoid making contact with Brayshaw.
“That’s it for me in a nutshell,” he said.
“You watch it frame by frame, he is running flat out and he’s jumping in the air. He cannot disappear.
“I haven’t seen any past player of note come out and say he shouldn’t be suspended because you are understanding in that moment that this is finals football and if you’re not going flat out you’re going to be criticised.
“When you do go flat out you can’t just disappear. You actually have to brace and half protect yourself otherwise you both get knocked out.
“There’s always going to be accidents. We see knee to the head in marking contests all the time and no one cares about it. The AFL doesn’t care about that from a legal perspective. You can jump up, drive your knee into someone’s head running back with the flight of the ball, and as long as you’re looking to take a mark you’re fine. But you can’t jump and try to smother the football.
“I’m really fired up about it. It’s unfair to think he could have done anything else in that circumstance.”
Buckley continued, referencing other actions in season 2023 in which a player has escaped a suspension.
He raised the point around ‘duty of care’, suggesting this whole facet of the game is a ‘grey area’.
“I think we’ve got to understand that there have been players that have been suspended this year for acts that I don’t think are outside what you would expect a footballer to do,” he added.
“This idea of duty of care and this idea of protecting the head has had this groundswell of focus around it. We’ve seen players, in my view, that have been penalised and suspended for acts that I think that others have been let go of.
“Tom McCartin got off what looked like it was a bump and Shane McAdam was somewhat concussed and had a depressed cheekbone. There were another couple that have taken place recently.
“Yes, we do get head contact that’s not penalised. We get some that is. There’s a lot of grey area here for me.
“Because if you went all-in on this duty of care and this medico legal issue around concussion and head knocks, you’d be rubbing out five or six players on potential damage to the head every week.”
Cornes concluded: “The game is in trouble if you want to go down that line.”
Maynard faces the Tribunal on Tuesday night.
Both Buckley and Cornes firmly believe Maynard should avoid suspension.