Brayden Maynard may have had the right intentions as he took flowers and wine to visit Angus Brayshaw in the aftermath of last week’s brutal hit – but his visit was reportedly tense.
Maynard went to the home of Brayshaw on Friday, following on from the qualifying final smother attempt gone wrong that left Brayshaw unconscious for two minutes on the MCG turf.
Several of his Demons teammates were reportedly already at the house, creating an awkward encounter.
“I’m told Maynard’s visit was awkward,” Sam Edmund said on Sen’s Sportsday on Monday.
“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.
“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.”
Maynard reportedly brought flowers and wine for Brayshaw but it did little to soothe the anger amongst the Melbourne camp.
AFL 360 co-host Mark Robinson said there was a lot of “angst” in the Brayshaw camp.
“The Brayshaw camp want a suspension. There’s a few people close to Angus who believe that was a deliberate act by Maynard to hurt Angus Brayshaw,” Robinson told Fox Footy’s AFL 360.
“So there’s another layer to the legal complexities, there’s the concussion debate overall … but the emotional layer is there’s a lot of angst. I wouldn’t say it’s outright anger, but there’s a lot of angst that a player can get knocked out for two minutes.”
His brother Hamish Brayshaw revealed Angus’ condition had improved in recent days but it was hard to watch his brother suffer another concussion.
“I spoke to him earlier on today – he’s having some scans on his brain from the same doctor who looked after him a few years ago,” Hamish Brayshaw told media from the Sandover Medal count in Perth.
“Health comes number one and he’s got a life to live after football.”
Maynard will learn of his fate at Tuesday’s AFL tribunal, with his finals hopes hanging in the balance.