Andrew Gaff should be suspended for seven matches for his brutal punch, Jon Ralph writes

ANDREW Gaff will be sent straight to the tribunal for his brutal punch to the face of Andrew Brayshaw and the tribunal should suspend him for seven matches — the same penalty Barry Hall received for his hit on Brent Staker.

Andrew Gaff should be suspended for seven matches, Jon Ralph writes. Picture: Getty

ON TUESDAY night the AFL tribunal should suspend Andrew Gaff for seven weeks — the same penalty Barry Hall received for his 2008 hit on Brent Staker.

It would officially end his season, a strong AFL stance that the code will not stand for roundhouse hits that break the jaw of opponents.

‘I FEEL SICK’: GAFF SORRY FOR BRUTAL PUNCH

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The fallout would be extreme given West Coast would have to win the premiership without matchwinning stars Nic Naitanui and Gaff.

Yet what we might never know is why Gaff swung that punch to Fremantle’s Andrew Brayshaw given no AFL player has been more of a polar opposite to serial offender Hall.

There are unlikely brainfades and then there are inexplicable acts so far out of character it is hard to know how they ever happened.

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Andrew Gaff should be suspended for seven matches, Jon Ralph writes. Picture: Getty

Those close to Gaff joke he has a resting heart rate of 40 — unflappable, impervious to drama and controversy, a player of morals and integrity.

Even he couldn’t explain it, telling Fox Footy’s David King on Sunday night: “I feel sick. It doesn’t reflect my character”.

In 175 games Gaff has never been suspended, never been fined for a melee, never even been hit with a careless umpire contact fine.

He should be commended for his quick apology, but it shouldn’t lessen the example the AFL needs to set with his penalty.

Take Gaff out of the equation and the hit was from football’s dark ages.

A player off the ball takes out one of footy’s best and brightest with a swinging arm that sends him to hospital with a broken jaw.

It was the kind of hit we see in those 70s biff-and-brawl highlights videos as we feel sick while being astonished at the brutality of it all.

Andrew Brayshaw was sent to hospital to be treated for a suspected broken jaw.

The fact Brayshaw’s brother Hamish is on the list at West Coast just adds another bizarre element to a story that will dominate the week’s agenda.

Melbourne’s Tom Bugg received a six-week ban for a savage punch that concussed Sydney’s Callum Mills, yet this was more forceful with greater consequences.

Gillon McLachlan has already ruled out a red card rule after Jeremy Cameron’s in-play elbow on Harris Andrews earlier this year.

But it was hard not to think we need a rethink as Gaff went back onto the ground in the last quarter and Fremantle players made a beeline to rough him up.

Barry Hall was suspended for seven matches for punching Brent Staker.

They were uncomfortable and disconcerting scenes that would have been prevented if he was ruled unable to return by an AFL official or umpire.

Over eight years in the AFL Gaff has built a reputation as one of the AFL’s fairest ball players.

But it is more important to set an example about what the AFL will and won’t stand for than letting him off easy for one extraordinary moment of madness.

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