The final act of Angus Brayshaw’s career typified the character with which he played footy.
The Demon, who has retired due to concussion after undergoing extensive neurological examinations, charged through the middle of the MCG before kicking long into attack during last September’s qualifying final against subsequent premiers Collingwood.
It was the most direct of passages. Brayshaw, who was a premiership player in 2021, was never one to take a step away from the action and competed with vigour and verve.
A split-second later he was cannoned into by Magpie Brayden Maynard, whose failed attempt to smother sparked spirited debate and prompted a rule change by the AFL.
The No.3 selection in the 2014 draft, Brayshaw delivered on the investment Melbourne made in him in spades.
As Fremantle skipper Alex Pearce said on Thursday, the 167-game player produced a career that should be celebrated, including a dynamic performance in Melbourne’s drought-breaking premiership triumph over the Western Bulldogs in Perth.
But Pearce, who plays alongside Brayshaw’s younger brother Andrew, looked shocked and said he was saddened by the news. It is a
sentiment shared across the entire industry.
Brayshaw is just 28. A footballer talented enough to finish third in the 2018 Brownlow Medal, he had five more years left on his contract.
Former Melbourne captain Nathan Jones, who picked up Brayshaw on his first day of training and spent time with him on Thursday afternoon, said it is a “career cut too short”.
“I am devastated like everyone else,” he said.
Brayshaw is understandably shattered, as he penned in a letter to members released late on Thursday, but is optimistic about his future.
“I know the coming days will be sad and upsetting for me (I am crying as I am writing this) and many others,” he wrote.
“I know that it’s important to acknowledge that this is tough, but I also think that perspective is important. This decision that has been made for me is to protect my long-term health. That is a good thing. I hope to live a long and full life.
“I have many passions that I look forward to pursuing, and amongst the sadness and loss, there are feelings of excitement about the possibilities the future holds for me. Change is inevitable, and I believe that as this door has been shut for me, so many more will open in the future.
“That provides light at the end of this tunnel I find myself in, and it would be remiss of me to fail to acknowledge that hundreds of millions of people around the world are currently doing it tougher than I am. It is hard for me to stay upset for long.”
Brayshaw is the second high-profile player from his draft year to retire due to concussion following that season’s No.1 selection Paddy McCartin, who was forced out of the game last August after dealing with the sickening side-effects of head knocks for years.
The retirements of Brayshaw, who wore a helmet for the last eight years of his career after concussions in 2016, and the former Saint and Swan McCartin are not isolated incidents.
Paul Seedsman, Mark Adams and Max Lynch also retired last year due to concussion. Premiership Bulldog Liam Picken is among those whose careers have been ended by the scourge, while Shane Tuck’s death was the subject of a coronial inquest.
It is shocking. And, sadly, Brayshaw will not be the last footballer to retire because of concussion, despite significant moves by the AFL to adjust and create stronger concussion protocols.
While the AFL has banned the type of incident that ultimately ended Brayshaw’s career, former North Melbourne premiership player David King is adamant the league needs to do even more.
“I think this is a real wake up call to anyone who has their head in the sand regarding the impact of head trauma, of head contact,” King told foxsports.com.au
“Any incidents that we can take out of the game, that don’t make the game soft or turn into touch football, as I keep hearing, we’ve got to do it.
“We’ve got to take all those measures to make the game as safe as we can, because we want the best players playing the entirety of their careers in as close to full health as we can.
“We lost a star factor player today in Angus Brayshaw well ahead of time. There is no winner in that decision.”
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Pearce said the AFL needs to institute the best protocols possible to ensure players are protected given the potential long-term health implications related to concussion.
“Anyone who has to finish their career early due to injury and particularly concussion, it is really saddening. I really feel for Angus and his family,” he said.
“Our discussions as an industry around the effects of concussion and head knocks will continue to play out, as the really should, and it should be a focus of our industry moving forward, to make sure we have the world’s best practice and to make sure that players, more often than not, get to choose when they want to finish playing the game.”
Former Geelong premiership player Max Rooke is among at least 60 players currently involved in a class action against the AFL, which is facing challenges on several fronts.
It is just short of a year since the league pledged $25 million to fund a 10-year study investigation into the long-term impact of head knocks and concussions on players.
Andrew Dillon, who has since been promoted to the AFL chief executive role, said at the time it was a significant step forward for the league.
“These actions demonstrate the AFL’s ongoing commitment to continuous improvement, increased transparency and diverse consultation, in the prioritisation of health and safety of all Australian football participants across all levels of the game,” he said.
But King believes more immediate action could be taken.
Although mindful incidents such as the Maynard bump are infrequent, the Fox Footy analyst called for a crackdown on acts that occur more frequently in footy.
“The Maynard act is one we hadn’t seen before. It is a one in 20-year incident, so I am not hot on the Maynard one at all, because it is such a rarity,” he said.
“But let’s start with where the contact is regular and where the occasion is consistent, like swing tackles, dump tackles, driving tackles, bumps after players have disposed of the ball or bumps where players choose to attack the head rather than the body.
“There are bumps that people just get wrong because they’re so clumsy or reckless. Well, unfortunately for me now, it has to be a suspension because we have to change the behaviour of players because the game is losing star players.”
He believes the AFL should consider adding a separate penalty matrix to the current tribunal guidelines to ensure those who are involved in head incidents are sanctioned more severely.
“Why wouldn’t the AFL, if they are serious about stamping this out, really address the head trauma as a separate table on the matrix?” he said.
“It would be something that would not necessarily fit in a catch-all scenario on their massive table. But it would give the Match Review Officer the ability to say that this is the level of contact and I have the scope to work with a variety of different suspensions, but in accordance with being consistent across the course of the season.
“It is so difficult to put every bump or every tackle into the current table. Right now … the water is muddied as to what players can and can’t do.”
Jones, meanwhile, said that as difficult as the forced retirement is, there is good reason for Brayshaw to be optimistic about the future given his talents away from the game.
“He’s a very likeable guy (and) a beautiful character off the field,” he told SEN.
“It’s a shame that his footy career comes to an end, but when you look at it all in perspective, he has still got a beautiful life ahead of him and football will be one small chapter of that.
“He has a beautiful fiance … and they are getting married later this year, so there are a lot of positives in his life ahead. And I don’t have any doubt that whatever he does next, he is going to excel with the same application and success he had in his footy career.”
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