Angus Brayshaw’s brother Hamish admits that he might’ve “jumped the gun” somewhat with his comments around the playing future of his brother.
Given Angus’ history with concussion, Hamish said he was fearing for the worst as he watched his brother stretchered off the MCG last Thursday night.
The Melbourne star is currently awaiting results from a brain scan following a gruesome hit from Collingwood’s Brayden Maynard in the Demons’ Qualifying Final loss.
Speaking on the Shelter FootyCast, Hamish Brayshaw suggested that the AFL have a hidden agenda around wanting Collingwood to win the premiership and that that will be factored into any suspension ruling for Maynard.
“It will set a precedent for what is going to happen for a long time in football I think, whether he gets off or whether he doesn’t,” Brayshaw said.
“I think if this happened in Round 3, sweet no worries mate you’ve got weeks, the scrutiny comes under the fact that I think the AFL are desperate for Collingwood to win a premiership.”
But after speaking with his brother following the incident and Angus saying he feels “okay”, Hamish insists he feels a bit more at “ease” with the situation.
“The way the family has reacted, it’s interesting because initially I think there was a bit of anger and frustration towards the whole thing and whether Brayden Maynard meant it or not is irrelevant, but what the main focus for us now is whether or not Angus is okay, and his health is our priority,” Brayshaw told SEN’s WA Breakfast.
“While initially, as I’m sure everybody can imagine when your son or your brother has been knocked out five minutes into a final and the emotions are pretty high and given his history and given everything that’s going on around concussion at the moment, it was pretty quick to step into ‘who cares what happened and let’s just hope he’s okay’.
“My initial reaction when watching it was that, ‘he’s never going to play football again’, and obviously that has since subsided, and I’ve spoken to him, and his symptoms are dying off and he’s okay.
“I probably jumped the gun a little bit early on that one but that’s the nature of his head injuries and his past with concussion and it’s been a really hard one for me and the family to deal with.
“While I was pretty passionate on the podcast yesterday speaking about the whole thing, it doesn’t bother me with Brayden Maynard and that whole situation, that can do what it does.
“For me, it’s just about my brother and how he is and what his footy career and the rest of his life will look like. so that’s my priority.”
AFL journalist Caroline Wilson revealed that Maynard in fact reached out to Brayshaw’s mother Deb following the incident, a conversation that reportedly didn’t go “very well at all”.
But Hamish provided some clarity to that report, saying that his mother was in fact busy at the time of the call and that he believes she will later be thankful for the gesture.
“Mum was in a little bit of a shock, and she picked up the phone and said, ‘I’m sorry mate, I can’t speak to you’, because she was off doing something at the time,” Brayshaw said.
“However long it will take mum she will reflect on that and probably be thankful for the call but whether or not she appreciated it at the time is her prerogative, but it was something that was good on him for reaching out and going over.
“He obviously meant it with sincerity that he was apologising and I’m thankful for him for reaching out.”
The AFL Tribunal will sit on Tuesday night as the Pies tries attempt to throw out Maynard’s ban for rough conduct.