When brawling, gear certainly matters. And that is a mistake imo. Gear should be normalized while brawling, just like in challenge modes and pvp. But a key aspect to raiding is the way gear works with progression. The best guilds will be able to go through the raid with less gear than the rest of the guilds. In the same way the casual players will be able to go through the hard content, through eventually outgearing it (or outleveling it).
If you want some easy help with brawling, you could always gem and enchant your gear, just a tip. Additionally you could get more helpful professions than Herbalism and Mining. That's casual in my book... But the term has a very fluid definition.