Jon Ralph looks at the biggest ‘mic drop’ moment from Andrew Gaff’s AFL Tribunal case
THROUGHOUT his tribunal case Andrew Gaff was painted as a good person who did a bad thing. But one statement provided a jarring reminder that the eventual eight weeks of punishment was appropriate despite his deep remorse.
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JEFF Gleeson is the AFL’s smiling assassin.
The AFL’s legal counsel with a sweep of grey hair has a genial persona removed from the attack dogs of those American TV shows.
At Tuesday night’s tribunal hearing he sat waiting for 100 minutes as Andrew Gaff’s QC David Grace painted the Eagles star as the choirboy he might well have once been.
CASE RECAP: HOW THE GAFF CASE PLAYED OUT AT THE TRIBUNAL
GONE WRONG: WHY GAFF’S PUNCH WAS A PUNCH GONE WRONG
DAVID KING: WHY WE SHOULDN’T SAVAGE ANDREW GAFF
Gaff certainly paints the picture of a shy and innocent figure for a man portrayed this week as a monster.
At one stage in Tuesday night’s tribunal his voice actually broke like a nervous schoolboy rapped over the knuckles for stealing a bag of lollies.
As the character references flowed and Grace methodically built his case, the picture emerged of a single moment of madness almost easy to forgive.
Gleeson calmly allowed Grace to build a contention that Gaff was a model citizen harried into contact by a pesky tagger obstructing his path.
Then Gleeson dropped the hammer with a recommendation just as dramatic as Gaff’s own strike on Andrew Brayshaw.
Gaff’s suspension must be 8-12 weeks for a hit that was “unrestrained in its execution, ferocious in its impact and grave in its consequence. It was a full-blooded punch”.
It was the tribunal’s microphone drop moment, a jarring reminder that the eventual eight weeks of punishment was appropriate despite his deep remorse.
Andrew Gaff isn’t a thug footballer, but neither was he the clumsiest fighter in Australia, with a punch to the chest so misplaced it ended up as a roundhouse haymaker.
A player who had for 270 junior and senior games been a model citizen did something deeply flawed that required his season to be ended.
What is still inexplicable is why he reacted so savagely.
As he conceded himself, he has been tagged for every single minute of so many games.
On Tuesday night he sat next to lawyer Grace and just metres in front of father Paul Gaff, barely moving for most of the 150-minute hearing.
The hearing heard a full 10 character references full of gushing praise, an extraordinary sporting resume full of highlights but also sportsmanship.
And it heard deep contrition from Gaff, who described his emotions as he sat on the bench mid-game aware of his actions.
“I am shattered, I am in tears, I feel sick about how Andrew is feeling and I am so sorry for what has happened to Andrew.
“I was heartbroken and I was rattled, I said to (Adam Simpson) mate I am rattled.”
Yet again Gleeson disarmed that testimony with his own, wondering why despite all his extraordinary sporting gifts a swinging arm at Brayshaw’s chest was so misplaced.
Eight weeks feels about right, enough to send a message to every footballer and still take into account his record and contrition.
The level of forgiveness from the Brayshaw family is remarkable and will be a key part in allowing the football community to move on.
Neville Bruns spoke of his dramatic felling by Leigh Matthews, a festering sore that still causes pain to this day.
How do we move forward?
It is time for the AFL’s senior footballers to show leadership over the cheap punches that lead up to this kind of incident?
Patrick Dangerfield has already started the conversation on head ruffles after missed shots and the petty elbows and stomach-punches that do nothing except irritate.
The AFL plans to get players involved in its new Spirit of the Game agreement.
Instead of being dragged kicking and screaming, they should be desperate to lead the charge.
Desperate to be the ones who set a community standard about any kind of punches rather than Michael Christian fining them like naughty kids.
The AFL’s players need to be the ones learning from this — the second dramatic incident in a year after Tom Bugg’s six-week ban.
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