No evidence of assault as 36ers outburst targets former coach
The Adelaide 36ers say claims of assault against former coach Joey Wright were thoroughly investigated and found wanting well before today’s series of harsh words from Wright and a player.
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The Adelaide 36ers investigated allegations of an incident involving coach Joey Wright and a player two years ago but found no evidence of assault as the club was plunged into crisis today.
The club has extended an external review into its inner workings by at least a week following an explosive tirade on Twitter by co-captain Kevin White in which he alleged Wright had assaulted a player and the club had ignored it.
“The guy assaulted a player a year ago and the club and his agent sat on their hands. This isn’t a boxing ring and it wouldn’t be acceptable in any other workplace. So why do people tolerate this?” White posted on Twitter.
The Advertiser has been told the club investigated an alleged incident involving Wright and a player after a game in New Zealand at the end of 2018 but found no evidence of any misconduct.
When contacted by The Advertiser today, Wright declined to comment on the allegations of assault or any cover up by the club.
Club chief executive Ben Kavenagh is currently overseas but a spokesman said: “The club would never cover up anything involving player welfare ever.”
Wright and the 36ers officially parted ways after seven seasons on Wednesday when they reached a financial settlement for the remaining two years of his contract.
In an interview with The Advertiser on Thursday, Wright said four players – imports Jerome Randle, Eric Griffin and Ramone Moore and Aussie big man Harry Froling – were not committed enough and that he was to blame for their disconnect.
That prompted White to unleash on Wright on Twitter – including releasing a screenshot of a private group chat between coaches – in which Wright suggested players “hang themselves”.
“F*** them all. Hopefully it (mental wellness) gets low enough for them to hang themselves. F***ing d**s. Maybe bit to harsh :),” Wright posted in the group chat.
Wright said the message had been leaked by a disgruntled assistant coach, had been taken out of context and he apologised if it had caused anyone offence.
But he did not apologise for his tough stance on the team which he said had been fractured from pre-season when some players refused to room together.
Among White’s Twitter tirade he alleged the players had been gagged by the club, Wright had blamed them behind closed doors for their failed season and had suggested a racial divide.
“I’ve been told to shut my mouth and it will be handled for weeks. Well, it’s now getting out of hand and I won’t stand for my teammates getting belted in the media,” he posted on Twitter.
“You rise as a team and fall as a team!
“Would you play for this guy??? Would you let your kids play for this guy? For the sake of mine and my teammates mental health this needs to be exposed because it is not and should not be acceptable!”
Wright later issued a statement in which he said:
“Many more comments were made in our player group chat and if they were ever published, everyone on the team would be defamed,” he said.
“Throughout the year there were some very tough messages about team cohesiveness because the team was reluctant to gel.
“There was an obvious separation between the players therefore a constant need for repeated messages.
“In my attempt to care and want more for each player and the 36ers, I was not willing to turn a blind eye to blatant disrespect between players and coaches.
“At no time did I ever ask a player to do anything that was unfair and out of bounds for a professional player.
The club sent its players a copy of its social media guidelines on Friday and while it’s understood that White had breached them, he had not been told to remove his Tweets which by Friday afternoon led to an argument with teammate Alex Mudronja.
“If I was to screenshot some of @kevoooo22 ‘s comments in our group chat a lot of people would be disgusted too. Joey made a wrong comment in a PRIVATE group chat and he knows that,” Mudronja replied on Twitter.
“We don’t all feel like that about Joey. He’s done a lot of good for a lot of us and he did everything he could to help our team last season. It was made impossible by people who did not buy-in to his philosophies.
“Saddened that these comments were made on behalf of the playing group and that they were brought to the public by our captain. For a person that acted like he was on Joey’s side all season, this is particularly disturbing.”
White responded by asking whether Mudronja remembers when news of Wright’s impending departure broke whether he “danced over” to the group saying “sign Bevo, sign Bevo” – reference to former Illawarra coach Rob Beveridge.
Import Eric Griffin also took to Twitter saying he would release messages now that “the cat is out the bag”.
Froling is in Poland and could not be contacted but his father Shane declined to comment to The Advertiser.
Former import Jacob Wiley defended Wright on Twitter.
“Joey has drastically changed the lives of many players and coaches throughout his career in the NBL for the better,” Wiley said.
“He absolutely changed my life for the better and made me a better person, not just a player. Had my back when my wife got sick and when my daughter was born.”
Adelaide 36ers basketball operations manager Jeff Van Groningen – who has been with the team for two months – said the club was concerned for the welfare of its players.
“I have made calls today since the social media episode,” Van Groningen said.
“Obviously many of our players are overseas and out of contract, but they are still members of our most recent team.
“The European time zone is not helpful but I have spoken to many of the Australian (based) players to seek them out and make sure they are OK.
“That has certainly occurred today.”
In the wake of missing the NBL finals for the second year in a row this season, the club commissioned an external review into its basketball department led by club greats Brett Maher, Rupert Sapwell and former AFL club football operations manager Rob Snowdon.
It’s not known whether the findings of the review will be made public.
Wright’s ugly exit from the 36ers had been on the cards for weeks and he did not attend its MVP dinner at the Entertainment Centre on Saturday night where none of the players referred to him by name when they were on stage collecting awards.
Wright told SEN on Friday he first realised the 36ers had a culture problem in pre-season when he tried to room players together and they resisted.
“I knew (they) had some obvious differences. One of the tricks we’ll do as coaches is put them in close proximity to one another and they all snuck out and stayed in the rooms where they were more comfortable with,” he said.
“Two weeks later I was like ‘okay, we’re going to have to get on top of this’. But that’s what you do as coaches and I tried every technique I could.
“It was out of my wheelhouse, maybe a better coach could bring them together. I never asked a player to do anything that wasn’t about winning, excelling, or becoming a better individual and I never done that and never will.”
The saga made news around the world with Australian NBA superstars Joe Ingles and Andrew Bogut both weighing in on Twitter.
reece.homfray@news.com.au