Story of Gaff-Brayshaw golf game takes bizarre twist

West Coast’s CEO reckons Andrew Gaff and Andrew Brayshaw played golf together just days before their infamous clash, but did they actually?

On Monday, Trevor Nisbett fronted the media to address Gaff’s shocking off-the-ball punch that left 18-year-old Brayshaw with a broken jaw.

Nisbett claimed that Gaff and Brayshaw had played a round of golf together last week, along with Hamish Brayshaw – Andrew’s twin and Gaff’s teammate at West Coast.

“Five days ago the brothers and Andrew Gaff were on the golf course together,” Nisbett said.

“It’s an extraordinary situation that we all find ourselves in at the moment.

“I think it’s a genuine friendship (that Gaff and Andrew Brayshaw have). The kids come through the system all the time, and it wouldn’t surprise you with Hamish at our club that there is a reasonable relationship there.”

But in a bizarre twist, Fremantle great Matthew Pavlich has taken to social media to suggest the golf game never actually happened.

“If you’re going to be critical of getting the facts right, you’d want to be sure that your’s are accurate also. Particularly if they’ve never actually met,” Pavlich tweeted alongside an emoji of a person playing golf.

Brayshaw’s other brother, Melbourne Demons star Angus, later confirmed that the golf outing never took place.

“I’m not sure how it’s been communicated and who’s said what to who but essentially they didn’t play golf,” Brayshaw told The AFL Exchange podcast.

“I sort of heard it through a few people asking me about it and it seemed weird Hamish hadn’t mentioned it to me, I spoke to him the day before so I mentioned Hamish this morning and he said ‘I’m not sure where they’ve got it from but they’ve never really played golf together’.”

Pavlich’s ‘getting the facts right’ reference was a dig at Nisbett, who criticised Dockers coach Ross Lyon for saying Gaff’s punch was ‘100m off the ball’ when it was more like 20.

“I’d like to think that when you make those comments, you try to take out the emotion of the situation,” Nisbett said of Lyon

“It’s very difficult to do that, but you also need to be extremely accurate if you’re going to make comments like that.”

Housemate ‘distressed’ by Brayshaw’s horror injury

Freo midfielder Lachie Neale says it was upsetting and distressing seeing his housemate Brayshaw return home from jaw surgery on Monday night.

Brayshaw won’t be able to eat solids for the next four weeks and has been ruled out for the rest of the AFL season.

Neale visited Brayshaw in hospital on Sunday night and the pair were reunited again on Monday when Brayshaw returned home.

“Andy’s like a little brother to me. I’m pretty protective of him,” Neale told Perth radio station mix94.5.

“He’s an incredibly tough kid and I’m super proud of him, but it was tough seeing him like that.

“He came home last night and I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a little bit distressing and upsetting to see him the way that he was.”

Gaff will front the AFL Tribunal on Tuesday night with the Eagles midfielder expected to be rubbed out for the remainder of the season.

with AAP