In skilled sport there have all the time been villains, the fellows that their very own followers often love and opposition followers like to hate.
Then there’s Brayden Maynard, who was as much as a few of his regular methods on Friday evening because the Dockers stormed residence to grab an 11.9 (75) to 10.15 (75) draw with the Pies.
The 27-year-old Collingwood defender has a penchant for rubbing some individuals the improper manner, whether or not it’s the intense haircut, his confrontational model or after all that collision with Angus Brayshaw in final 12 months’s qualifying closing.
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Whereas Maynard was cleared by the Tribunal after he left the previous Melbourne star concussed, the very fact Brayshaw was compelled to retire a couple of months later made the Collingwood premiership participant enemy No. 1 in some individuals’s eyes, pretty or not.
Maynard, who went on to characteristic in Collingwood’s flag success in opposition to the Lions three weeks later, was flooded with abuse after Brayshaw’s February retirement.
On Friday evening, Maynard discovered himself the subject of one other torrent of unfavourable social media response, this time over a halftime confrontation with Fremantle nice Nat Fyfe.
Within the dying seconds of the second quarter at Optus Stadium, Fyfe gave Collingwood star Josh Daicos the slightest of bumps at a stoppage.
That was cause sufficient for Maynard to see purple, pushing previous one other Docker so he might confront the two-time Brownlow medallist.
As you’ll be able to see within the video participant above, that led to a melee as Freo gamers received round Fyfe and a variety of Pies tried to drag Maynard out of the fray.
“Effectively not surprisingly Brayden Maynard finds himself proper smack bang in the course of this little donation fest I’d name it,” Garry Lyon stated on Fox Footy.
“There’s just one participant to search for,” Jordan Lewis chipped in.
It was simply the newest in a protracted line of comparable incidents involving Maynard, which will be seen as a participant standing up for a teammate or a famous bother maker creating an incident when it wasn’t required.
The vast majority of X customers appeared to take the same stance on this episode, with many utilizing the identical time period to explain the 2022 All Australian.
“I get the impression some individuals don’t like Brayden Maynard, can’t think about why,” was one remark.
“Somebody must let him know he’s not the hardest individual within the AFL!” one other replied.
“Maynard’s powerful man act is sporting actually skinny,” acknowledged one other footy fan.
“Think about having a go at Nat Fyfe. Maynard the fakest powerful man there’s and it’s daylight to second place,” wrote one other.
One other had a considerably playful dig on the Pie, writing: “Jogs my memory of my 9 12 months outdated mouthing off. However he’s 9. Maynard is a grown grownup.”
In fact there have been some footy followers supporting Maynard, however there have been a couple of, together with some who felt he was merely standing up for a teammate.
One wrote: “Good bloke. Takes care of his mates.”
One other responded to the “faux powerful” feedback by stating: “Maynard would belt absolutely the f**ok out of the whole Freo workforce.”
One other fan wrote: “Maynard is a gun. Powerful.”
Then there was one other which will have summed up the state of affairs, writing: “I can see how he’s hated, however when he’s in your workforce it’s completely different.”
Within the true area of battle, Fremantle made a quick begin and held the lead for a lot of the opening time period.
The Dockers led by 13 factors on the principal break, however the premiers labored their manner on high within the third quarter, holding the house facet and not using a purpose till late within the closing time period to this point to open up a 21-point lead.
Fremantle wasn’t accomplished, nevertheless, kicking 5 of the final six objectives to roar residence and seize a share of the spoils in one other draw for 2024.
