Max Gawn spills beans on Brayden Maynard after 'awkward' Angus Brayshaw visit
Reports emerged that one Demons player had to "remove himself" from the same room as the Magpies star.
Melbourne Demons captain Max Gawn has come clean about Collingwood star Brayden Maynard's visit to the home of Angus Brayshaw, amid reports the "awkward" move from the Magpies player was not well-received. Maynard was cleared at the AFL tribunal and is free to play after his frightening collision with Brayshaw, that left the Melbourne player unconscious for several minutes in last Thursday's night qualifying final.
On Monday night, SEN's Sam Edmund revealed that Maynard had visited the home of Brayshaw in the aftermath of the incident. He said Melbourne teammates were also there to check on the welfare of the stricken Demons star and that Maynard's visit ruffled more than a few feathers.
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“He was allowed in but the awkwardness was actually heightened by the fact that Brayshaw already had multiple Melbourne teammates visiting him the day after the game," Edmund reported, saying Maynard came with flowers and wine. “From what I’ve been told, one of those teammates was particularly angered by Maynard’s presence and had to remove himself from the room just to make sure nothing untoward eventuated.
The teammate removed himself – a Melbourne player. Despite Maynard’s good intentions, this wasn’t a well-received visit. According to the people I’ve spoken to close to this, it was more of an awkward ‘well we’ll let him in because we can’t turn him away’ and then it just got more awkward from there.”
One of those Melbourne players visiting the Brayshaw home at the time was Gawn. Speaking on Triple M’s Marty Sheargold Show, the Demons captain said while the atmosphere was far from being warm and bubbly when Maynard arrived, reports of an emotionally-charged situation were wide of the mark.
“It was 10 minutes, everyone knew each other," Gawn told the Triple M program. "We played with Brayden’s brother three or four years ago, his dad works at the club.
"There’s a phenomenal connection between the Maynards and pretty much everyone at the football club. It’s what I expected for a guy that hit someone - well, knocked someone out accidentally the night before.
“We weren’t on the couch watching 'Thank God You’re Here', we weren’t having a genuinely good time, but it was certainly not the reports that have come out.”
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Veteran AFL reporter Caroline Wilson also revealed that Brayshaw's mother "wasn't overly impressed" after being contacted by Maynard over the phone, and that Gawn's presence inside the house was one of the reasons he was let in. “The reason (Maynard) was let into the house I think was because Max Gawn and Christian Petracca happened to be there and Max Gawn let him in,” Wilson told Channel 9.
“It was pretty tense, I understand, I’m not sure the flowers actually made it to a vase. I think Brayden Maynard also contacted Brayshaw’s mother Deb, I don’t think that conversation went very well at all.”
Brayshaw is engaged to Danielle Frawley - daughter of the late AFL great Danny Frawley - who died by suicide almost four years ago, following a battle with depression. He was posthumously diagnosed with CTE - a brain disease related to repeated head trauma and linked to concussions.
The Brayshaw concussion has understandably brought back painful memories for the Frawley family, with Danny's widow Anita calling for the AFL to do more to protect players' heads. She says the last week has been an "extremely traumatising" one for both the Frawley and Brayshaw families.
Max Gawn says Angus Brayshaw is recovering well
Gawn admitted that he and the rest of the Demons players "were really worried" about Brayshaw's condition after he "had a real bad first night" after the Maynard incident. In a positive update though, the Demons captain says Brayshaw is doing much better and on track to recover for the preliminary final - should the Demons qualify.
“I’m not an expert in concussion I don’t know much about it, all I know is he’s sticking to the protocols and he hasn’t had a bad day yet. Technically he’s ticked off the first five days of a 14-day protocol.
“He’s still looking like he could play in the prelim if we get there, which is so much more positive than what we thought on the initial night.”
with AAP
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