Collingwood hard-nut Brayden Maynard has explained his role in the massive brawl that saw an AFL umpire get caught in the crosshairs. The AFL’s match review officer handed out 19 fines and one suspension spread across 14 players after a massive brawl during Collingwood’s win over Gold Coast on Saturday.
Maynard himself copped three separate fines, while Gold Coast midfielder Touk Miller received two, and his Suns teammate Ben Long was handed one fine and a two-game ban for rough conduct.
Maynard and Miller fined for umpire contact
Miller and Maynard were both fined $5000 for making contact with umpire Nick Brown, who became collateral damage of the fracas. But the origins of the fight started seconds earlier when Long hit Maynard in the ribs from behind.
Speaking on Monday, Maynard said he never meant for the umpire to be involved. “I had one man and one man only in my eyesight, and that was big Benny Long,” he said. “Look, I’ve got a great amount of respect for Ben. He actually was playing his 150th game and I congratulated him on that part of the game. But when I got hit from behind and I didn’t know who it was, it sort of rattled me and it actually really, really hurt. So I just got up and thought, ‘I’ve got to get my revenge back ASAP’.”
Maynard admits carelessness
“It’s funny that there was only five seconds left to go before the half-time siren, so as soon as that went, I just looked at him and went, ‘You’re mine’. It was sort of on for young and old then, but I mean, that’s part of the game. When I was running over there, I came from about 50 metres deep, so I probably should have been aware of what was around me. But like I said, I had my eyes on one man and one man only, and unfortunately the umpire was in the way. It was careless; I didn’t mean to touch him, he sort of just was there in the middle, I had to get him out of the way. There was no malice in it whatsoever. If I didn’t move him out the way I probably would have bulldozed him over, let’s be honest.”
Fines and suspensions detailed
Maynard’s three fines totaled $8000, down to $7000 with early pleas for two of them, for his instigation of and involvement in the melee, while Miller’s two are worth a combined $6500, down to $6000 with an early plea for one. Reductions with early guilty pleas were not made available to Maynard and Miller for their umpire contact fines.
Pies players Jordan De Goey, Harry Perryman and Billy Frampton all received at least one fine, while Suns rivals Mac Andrew, Zeke Uwland, Nick Holman, Noah Anderson, Joel Jeffrey, Bailey Humphrey, Sam Collins and Wil Powell also took a hit to the hip pocket.
AFL's stance on umpire contact
The AFL has taken a dim view of intentional contact with umpires, headlined by GWS captain Toby Greene copping a six-match ban in 2021 for brushing past an umpire who was trying to talk to him. Gold Coast already received a $20,000 fine last month for tallying five umpire contact incidents this season, with Miller’s sanction bringing the tally to six. Collingwood are now at risk of their own $20,000 fine as Maynard becomes their fifth such charge of the year.
