Brayden Maynard told the tribunal, under examination from Andrew Woods for the AFL, said he could not have out-stretched his arms to cushion the impact on Angus Brayshaw, or that he could have opened his arms to collect Brayshaw in that way.
Later, under questioning from tribunal chair Jeff Gleeson, Maynard described his actions in the smother as a “flinch reaction, and he (Brayshaw) was in my way”.
Asked what could have happened if he had left his arms open to collect Brayshaw instead, Maynard said: “I feel the same outcome would have happened because it was a collision, it happened very quickly.”