Andrew Gaff’s jaw-breaking punch on Andrew Brayshaw has been the talk of the footy world. With young Brayshaw, himself a talented number 2 pick in the draft in the early stages of a very promising career, set to miss the rest of the season with a broken jaw, Gaff’s punishment could and should be severe.
Based on precedent, Gaff looks set to also miss the conclusion of the 2018 season - and a finals series – with a hefty suspension.
The reasoning behind the punch has been hard to fathom, with Gaff and Brayshaw reportedly playing golf mere days prior.
Do the West Coast Eagles have an attitude problem? Garry Lyon asked
1116 SEN WA correspondent Tim Gossage if the West Coast Eagles are a “protected species” in Perth.
“It goes back to the Mick Malthouse era, where there was a fear of Mick Malthouse. If you were offside with Mick, and West Coast, you found it hard going in the town.
“The media – I don’t think they treat West Coast any differently, and I think they report hard and The West Australian has good journos over here, they go hard at both clubs.
“But they [West Coast] are the barometer of the way, sometimes, media report things. They’ve got that success, bigger membership.”
“If Fremantle were going strongly, and had a bigger presence in town, it’d probably be a 50-50 split.
“West Coast do give off the impression sometimes – they are, not above the game, but they are in charge of the way the game is reported and the barometer of the way the game is felt here in Perth."
