FREMANTLE teenager Andrew Brayshaw says he has forgiven Andrew Gaff, and revealed he might lose five teeth from the West Coast midfielder's crude hit in last Sunday's wild Western Derby.
Brayshaw said his brother Hamish, who has developed a close friendship with Gaff after being drafted by West Coast last year, helped convince him Gaff's blow was out of character.
SEASON OVER Gaff hit for eight
The 18-year-old has agreed to meet up with the suspended Eagle in coming weeks, with both of their seasons over after Gaff's brainfade.
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"The action itself is horrific," an emotional Brayshaw told Channel Seven.
"But the person that Andrew Gaff is, I forgive him and I'm not going to hold a grudge against him as a person.
"Hamish told me that out of all the people he knows, and all the people in the AFL, Andrew Gaff would be the last person to do it.
"(A) good bloke has made a bad mistake."
'STILL A HUMAN BEING' Port defender feels for Gaff
The 18-year-old has agreed to meet up with the suspended Eagle in coming weeks, with both of their seasons over after Gaff's brutal punch.
"I've been going up and down with emotions throughout the last few days, but I've come to the conclusion that as a person I'm not holding any grudge towards him," Brayshaw said.
"I actually look forward to meeting him. I want to hear it from his perspective and just see what was going through his head.
"It's something I want to discuss with him."
Brayshaw has undergone surgery to fix his broken jaw and will be unable to eat solid food for a month.
He flew to Melbourne on Thursday afternoon to recuperate with his family, telling reporters he wasn't sure how long until he would return to Perth.
Brayshaw's parents were both at Optus Stadium watching the Derby, and his mother Debra was brought to tears after seeing him in the changerooms.
"She was a little bit teary. I tried to smile at her and she tried to smile back but, I guess, similar to myself she didn't really comprehend what had happened," he said.
"We were all in shock, including the doctors and the physios, and everyone.
"(Coach Ross Lyon) was shocked, upset, didn't really know what to do with himself.
"He embraced me and said I'll be all right and the whole club is behind me."
While Brayshaw's injuries will be a constant reminder in the coming weeks and months, Gaff will also have to live with the incident and the young Docker hoped the public would forgive the devastated Eagle.
"A good man making a bad error I don't think the deserves to be put under any more scrutiny," Brayshaw said.
"He's living with the weight of what has happened on his shoulders for, I don't know how long, but I just definitely want to move on from this and not take it any further.
"I don't think it should (go any further)."
Podcast: Brayshaw says Gaff's hit on brother was 'assault'
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