Source : the age
Richmond are investigating the conduct of their players after vision emerged from the club’s Mad Monday celebrations potentially appearing to mock the scandal engulfing the Sydney Swans.
Competition sources have confirmed to this masthead that the Tigers are examining footage taken at the Garfield Hotel in Gippsland on Monday, which shows several Richmond players drinking and striking one another with belts.
The hotel issued a staunch defence of the players and said the matter had been “blown out of proportion”.
Photos taken on Monday appear to show pints of beer lined up on a ledge, a player climbing on a teammate’s shoulders and reaching onto a roof covering, and two players outside the venue appearing to urinate against a fence.
Five Sydney players – Isaac Heeney, Chad Warner, Nick Blakey, Riley Bice and James Jordon – have been suspended for breaching club standards, and a separate police investigation into an allegation of sexual assault at the hotel continues.
No charges have been laid and this masthead is not suggesting any wrongdoing on the part of the five suspended players.
In one piece of vision of the Tigers, young midfielder Josh Smillie appears to pull down his pants and feign shock as he is repeatedly struck on the backside by a teammate.
He appears to be spanked three times in the video and then after a fourth slap, reacts differently – which is possibly a recreation of allegations published by the Herald Sun, that one woman had claimed she was slapped on the buttocks four times instead of the three slaps that had been agreed.
Another clip shows midfielder Tim Taranto using a belt to strike a shirtless teammate.
The footage emerged just a week after five Sydney players were suspended for the remainder of the season for breaches of club standards following an incident at the team’s Melbourne hotel.
Victoria Police continues to investigate an allegation of sexual assault arising from that night. No charges have been laid and there is no suggestion of wrongdoing by the five suspended Sydney players.
Richmond and the AFL have been contacted for comment.
The footage of the Tigers’ Mad Monday celebration prompted Labor MP Dan Repacholi to criticise the behaviour.
“Right now we need good blokes out there having the conversations around this and calling this out for what it is because this is unacceptable, and we need to make sure we do better,” he said.
The Tigers’ season finished on Saturday after their loss to Geelong.
A statement was released on the hotel’s social media accounts on Monday, defending the players.
“We hosted the Richmond Football Club at our venue today, and we could not speak more highly of the way they conducted themselves. For such a young group, they were extremely respectful and a fun group of boys to deal with,” the statement read.
“They enjoyed a few quiet beers to unwind after a long season, and we see nothing wrong with that. They had booked out the venue for the afternoon, so they were the only patrons on site. They enjoyed their afternoon and moved on.
“In our view, this has been blown out of proportion. Two members of the media were waiting on their arrival this morning and remained on site filming in the hope of capturing a misstep, which we consider disappointing.”
Richmond and the AFL were contacted for comment.
Also on Monday, AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon delivered a strongly worded statement at the league’s finals launch.
As the Swans crisis continues, Dillon said respect for women was not negotiable.
There have been several incidents over the past few years at Mad Monday celebrations – the day to mark a club’s end of season – that have sparked controversy about player behaviour.
Sam McClure is an award-winning AFL journalist and broadcaster.Connect via X or email.
