Brayshaw queries AFL over Goldsack case

North Melbourne chairman James Brayshaw says he can’t understand how Collingwood’s Tyson Goldsack has escaped a fine over an AFL betting scandal.

Brayshaw said the Goldsack case and the incident involving Collingwood captain Nick Maxwell were similar, yet treated differently by the league.

“You’ve got the captain of the Collingwood Football Club who has been fined heavily for doing something that 17 games earlier a team-mate did exactly the same thing and has been absolved of any responsibility,” Brayshaw said while hosting Nine’s AFL Footy Show.

“How does that work?,” Brayshaw added on Sunday.

“He (Maxwell) will be sitting back saying … ‘a bloke did exactly the same as what I’ve done and you could argue, more importantly, because it was a grand final and it was a collect, and he’s got no case to answer while I’m out of pocket’.”

The AFL suspended Collingwood’s Heath Shaw for eight matches and fined him $20,000 on Friday for his part in a $20 bet at a TAB agency.

Maxwell was fined $5000 after his family members placed bets.

The AFL punished the two players after a betting plunge on Maxwell kicking the first goal in the round-nine match against Adelaide.

Maxwell told family members he would start forward in the Crows game.

They decided to also place three bets totalling $85 on Maxwell kicking the first goal.

Maxwell was fined because he did not tell them they were not allowed to use the information for gambling.

The bets prompted a plunge on Maxwell’s odds, from $101 to $26, but he did not kick the first goal.

Goldsack’s mother Wendy had placed a $5 bet – at 80-1 – on her son kicking the first goal of last year’s grand final replay.

The defender came off the bench and kicked the first goal.

Goldsack said after the match he had joked with his mother that he would go forward and kick the first goal.

AFL spokesman Patrick Keane said there was no suspicious activity around the replay.

“There hasn’t been any a fluctuation in the betting. There was no issue that we felt required action,” Keane told AAP on Sunday.

Collingwood’s third betting drama of the week is not the only issue confronting the competition leaders following Mick Malthouse’s explosive TV interview on Thursday night.

Malthouse agreed in 2009 to step down as coach after 2011 and serve as director of coaching for another three seasons under new senior coach Nathan Buckley, his current assistant.

But Malthouse has since guided the Magpies to the 2010 flag and they’re on track for another triumph this year.

Malthouse has left open the slight possibility of leaving the Magpies next year to coach at a rival club, unless he’s satisfied his yet-to-be-finalised role isn’t “insignificant”.

Maxwell denies he had begged Malthouse to remain as senior coach in 2012.

The skipper told Seven’s AFL Game Day he was excited about Buckley taking over next year and he was also certain that Malthouse would stay on as director of coaching.