The Collingwood players ran out for their qualifying final the way they always do – gambolling about and whooping it up. But the frolics didn’t last long. It was a brutal opening. It saw spotfires, hyperextended knees, errant elbows, concussion tests and a bloodcurdling collision between Brayden Maynard and Angus Brayshaw.
“It’s a footy act,” Maynard later said. “He jumped off the ground and knocked a guy out,” Melbourne coach, Simon Goodwin, countered. “It didn’t look like it had much malice,” his opposite number, Craig McRae, offered. Like all things tribunals and finals, we throw our hands in the air, hope the player’s brain hasn’t been damaged, and let the po-faced panellists and the king’s counsels thrash it out.
