Hawthorn has leveled drug use allegations against a former player as the AFL club responds to explosive allegations of racism.
Allegations of unlawful discrimination, including family separations and pressure to terminate pregnancies, have been brought in the Federal Court against the club and its former coach Alastair Clarkson, its former assistant Chris Fagan and former welfare manager Jason Burt.
AFL premiership star Cyril Rioli is the leading applicant along with wife Shannyn Ah Sam-Rioli, former players Carl Peterson and Jermaine Miller-Lewis, partner Montanah-Rae Lewis and former Indigenous liaison officer of Hawthorn, Leon Egan.
Clarkson, who now coaches North Melbourne, Brisbane coach Fagan, and Burt deny any wrongdoing and reject accusations of racism.
An AFL investigation returned no adverse findings against the trio.
The defense of the club. The response to the allegations was released by the Federal Court on Thursday, alleging that Peterson was removed from the team that lost the 2010 knockout final to Fremantle because teammate Nikita Rotumah said he had used marijuana the week before the match.
Hawthorn has filed drug and alcohol claims against one of its former players, Carl Peterson.
Former Hawks head coach Alastair Clarkson (left) and his former assistant Chris Fagan (pictured together in 2015) have denied any wrongdoing over explosive racism allegations.
Peterson was delisted from the club the following month.
Beginning in February 2009, Ms. Rotumah occasionally contacted Burt to express concerns about Peterson’s continued drug use and behavior, court documents state.
During the VFL’s mid-season break in June 2009, Peterson traveled to Perth after his grandfather became seriously ill.
The club alleges that when then development coach David Flood picked up Peterson at Melbourne airport upon his return, the player was “incoherent” and appeared to be “impaired by alcohol or illicit substances”.
He also allegedly told Flood that he had no money in his bank account and that he had lost his clothes.
After discovering that Rotumah was pregnant in 2009, Peterson said he was summoned to a meeting with Clarkson, Fagan and Burt where the head coach allegedly told him, “you need to break up with Nikita and just focus on your football,” warning his Her career would be in danger if the pregnancy was not terminated.
The club denied disapproving of their relationship, saying it arranged for the couple to receive counseling and questioned whether the meeting in which Peterson was encouraged to terminate his partner’s pregnancy ever occurred.
Rioli claims Clarkson warned her to “be careful not to have babies” as it would disrupt her career in 2011, after visiting him in Darwin at his uncle’s house.
It was claimed that Peterson was dropped from the 2010 knockout final against Fremantle because his teammate said he had used marijuana the week before the game.
Cyril Rioli (pictured) is the lead applicant in the claims brought against Hawthorn along with his wife Shannyn Ah Sam-Rioli.
The club said that while Clarkson attended, he did not know what was said in 2011.
But he admitted the coach questioned Rioli’s skin color when he turned up unannounced in Alice Springs in 2017 while the player was visiting his sick father in hospital.
Court documents indicated Rioli and his wife complained to the club after former Hawks player Grant Birchall allegedly asked Indigenous teammate Bradley Hill if his teammate was a ‘b***’ and that no action was taken.
But the club denied that no action had been taken, saying Jarryd Roughead, who was part of the team’s leadership group, listened to and advised Birchall before comforting Hill and facilitating an apology from Birchall.
Miller-Lewis claimed the club tried to separate him from his partner Montanah Rae Lewis after the birth of their baby and this caused his mental health to worsen.
Multiple requests for Ms Lewis and her son to visit Miller-Lewis in Melbourne were allegedly refused and on one occasion Ms Lewis was told her visit would be a distraction to her career.
The club denied saying that Mrs Lewis and the baby needed permission to visit him. He said he offered first-year rookie players 10 free flights per year, of which the couple used four.
Players say they suffered injuries, loss and damage as a result of their experiences at the club, including distress, pain and suffering, psychological harm and loss of income and earning capacity.
But the club said Peterson, Rioli and Miller-Lewis cannot recover damages for non-economic losses because they have not suffered a significant injury.
Clarkson (left), who now coaches North Melbourne, Brisbane coach Fagan (right) and Burt deny any wrongdoing and reject accusations of racism.
The court fight comes after mediation between the group and those accused of racism that the Human Rights Commission ended in May.
Hawthorn commissioned and published the findings of a cultural safety review in 2022 to investigate allegations of systemic mistreatment of First Nations players at the club.
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