Prominent Melbourne lawyer David Galbally QC has said a court would consider jail time for Andrew Gaff after his hit on Andrew Brayshaw in Sunday’s AFL Western Derby, should police get involved.
The punch put Brayshaw in hospital with a broken jaw and four displaced teeth, ending what had been an impressive debut season for last year’s number two draft pick.
Fremantle has said the 18-year-old won’t be able to eat solid foods for at least a month.
MORE: Fans call for criminal charges against Gaff | Gaff 'feels sick' after punc on Brayshaw
Galbally said the strike was “a very serious assault” and would justify investigation by WA police.
“If you were just on the street and committed something like that, a judge would look at putting you in [jail],” Galbally told Fairfax Media on Monday morning.
“You would really run the risk of either getting a suspended sentence or getting a small stint."
"Police could certainly lay charges for assault. It's been done before - Leigh Matthews, [Neville] Bruns incident [in 1985] - because it clearly is an assault and it's an assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
"The police could easily do that. I wouldn't guarantee that it wouldn't happen. That is an appalling incident and it clearly is an assault and it wouldn't surprise me at all if they stepped in.”
While the possibility of criminal charges may exist, it’s extremely unlikely to happen.
The Matthews/Bruns case was referred to the Melbourne Magistrates Court where the Hawthorn champion pleaded guilty to a charge of ‘assault causing grievous bodily harm’ and was fined $1000.
“Why the police decided to pluck this one incident from the many potential assaults that have occurred on football fields over the decades is still a great mystery,” Leigh Matthews wrote in his autobiography Accept the Challenge.
''That one charge from round 12 in June 1985 remains the one and only time in the entire history of the VFL-AFL that the police have taken action about an on-field incident.”
The AFL community has been rife with speculation as to what penalty awaits Gaff at the Tribunal.
Commentator Gerard Whately wrote on the SEN website that he believes the Eagles midfielder should face as much as a 12-match ban.
“This is the worst type of incident that can happen on the field in modern football – an unprovoked violent punch,” Whately said.
“In 2018, that action on a football field should result in a 12-week suspension, and there’s a serious question for Western Australian police as to whether they should be involved.”
Former Melbourne captain Garry Lyon doesn’t go quite so far.
“I think it’s somewhere between six and eight I reckon,” Lyon said on SEN Breakfasts on Monday.
If Barry Hall got 7 weeks for belting Brent Staker in 2008 - Gaff’s king hit on a first year player - breaking his jaw in two places and dislodging four teeth 10 years later is worth more.
— Warren Tredrea (@warrentredrea) August 5, 2018
Not everyone will agree, so save the abuse. But you can't punch someone and break their jaw and escape police scrutiny just because you're wearing a footy jumper. Will be surprised if charges aren't considered #gaff
— Mark Robinson (@Robbo_heraldsun) August 5, 2018