By Greg Baum
Let the record show that Brayden Maynard took a backward step.
To be fair, it was more of a momentarily uncomfortable sideways shuffle. It was when he was asked if it was true that he once would get so excited about Auskick he would sometimes pee the bed.
Brayden Maynard.Credit: Paul Jeffers
Being Maynard, he was quickly back on the front foot. “Yes, I did,” he said. “I would actually sleep in my kit, wake up, and there’d be a big wee patch, and I’d have to change.”
It’s fair to say that nowadays, urinary incontinence is a problem for some of Maynard’s opponents, metaphorically speaking, not him. In a career that reaches 200 games this Sunday, his driven and uncompromising ways have made him that oldest of footy tropes, the love-hate figure.
He gets it. “I don’t really like being hated by the other fans, but I can see why they do hate me,” he said. “I promise I’m a good guy, a great guy. The only thing that really matters to me is what my teammates and my club thinks of me. I know that within the four walls, I’ve got a great amount of respect.”
Inevitably, Maynard was the central figure in the build-up to last Monday’s King’s Birthday Collingwood-Melbourne showdown, their first meeting since last year’s qualifying final when Maynard’s attempted smother of Angus Brayshaw led to a collision that concussed Brayshaw and led to his early retirement from football. Maynard was cleared by the tribunal.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” Maynard said. “I knew the fans were going to come after me. I wasn’t too sure about the players. I guess the result is the result. They didn’t come after me as much as I thought they probably would. But it is what it is.”
Some commentators expressed bemusement about what it wasn’t on Melbourne’s behalf. But footy surely is past its time of performative flag-flying. Apart from anything else, the players all come out of one big pool. Maynard will play on Sunday against two more he knows well, North Melbourne’s Cam Zurhaar and Curtis Taylor.
Maynard was taken by the Magpies at No.30 in the 2014 draft, a fruitful one for the Magpies who had already enlisted Jordan De Goey and Darcy Moore. He admits he was rough-edged. “I didn’t really have my work-life balance in order,” he said. “I had a few conversations early days that helped shape me into the man I am today.
“When you come out of school straight into the AFL system, it hits you between the eyes pretty quickly. You’ve got to grow up pretty fast.
Brayden Maynard and Melbourne players after Angus Brayshaw was knocked out in the 2023 qualifying final.Credit: Paul Rovere
“I didn’t really go too well at school, so football was my one wood. I had to give it the biggest crack. I had to really give everything to football. And I think I have so far – and I’ve got a lot more to give.”
Maynard says the signal lesson he has learned along the way is not to take football too seriously. “There’s a lot more to life than football,” he said. “Since Fly [coach Craig McRae] came in, we’ve had this really relaxed and fun culture. I’m not saying any other culture I’ve been part of wasn’t fun, but in this group, we’ve had a lot of fun in what we do.
“I’ve had a bit of stuff going on outside of football, which has made me realise that football is not everything.”
This holistic outlook belies the almost possessed figure Maynard cuts on game day. “It’s a bit of white-line fever,” he said. “I do get pretty angry and pretty aggressive when I cross that white line. But that’s just part of who I am. I wouldn’t want it any other way and I don’t think I’d be here today if I didn’t have that sort of balance.”
Brayden Maynard celebrates the 2023 premiership.Credit: Eddie Jim
The contest is his snuff still. He remembered fondly battles with GWS skipper Toby Greene and West Coast’s Liam Ryan. “I have a great amount of respect for those guys, but once I’m out there, I don’t fear anyone,” he said. Last year’s premiership aside, what he loves best is close games. He’s at the right club.
Collingwood are having another death-defying season. Despite a rash of injuries and a much-turned-over team, they’ve lost only one of their past 10 matches and sit in sixth place.
“Whoever’s come in has played their role to a tee,” Maynard said. “It’s so fun being out there, especially when you know you don’t have your best team in, but you’re sort of playing your best football as a collective. I’m really proud of the boys.”
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