Steven May, Dion Prestia no longer facing charges over alleged Sorrento Boxing Day brawl

AFL premiership players Steven May and Dion Prestia are no longer facing charges over an alleged Boxing Day brawl that left one man with major eye damage.

Steven May and Dion Prestia have been questioned by police over the alleged incident in Mornington Peninsula.

Police have questioned AFL premiership players Steven May and Dion Prestia over an alleged Boxing Day brawl that left a man with major eye damage.

Police on Monday initially said the players were two of three men set to be charged on summons after the Herald Sun revealed they had been caught up in a late-night fracas near the Continental Hotel that resulted in two men being hospitalised.

May and Prestia were among a group out celebrating Boxing Day at the popular Mornington Peninsula spot when they were allegedly attacked about 2am.

It was understood that one man involved in the brawl took a swing outside the venue before the group took off along Point Nepean Rd.

A Victoria Police spokeswoman on Monday morning said three men who had been interviewed over the alleged fight would likely be charged.

Those men include a 32-year old Hawthorn man, a 33-year-old Mount Eliza man and a 26-year-old man from Blairgowrie.

But by late Monday afternoon, police said that Prestia, May and the Blairgowrie man had been released pending further inquiries into the alleged fight.

The alleged brawl took place outside the Continental Hotel in Sorrento.

While the men were no longer facing charges on Monday, they could still be charged at a later date if further evidence came to light.

In a statement to police in January, Rye man Will Salter, 22, claimed he suffered a broken eye socket, fractured nose and detached retina during the fight.

He accused Demons defender May of punching his mate “to the face” and said that Prestia, a Tigers midfielder, was also involved in the fracas.

May told the Herald Sun in February that he was confident he would be cleared of any wrongdoing.

“I think the truth will come out soon when the police investigation is done,” he said.

Richmond at the time said that Prestia, 32, saw the fight “but in no way was he involved”.

Melbourne has previously said the club would assist the investigation into the brawl “where required”.

Prestia played on the Tigers’ premiership teams in 2017, 2019 and 2020, while May formed part of the Demons’ winning lineup in 2021.

Prestia is the latest Tigers player to be embroiled in drama off the field.

Late last month, Noah Balta escaped jail and was slapped with a curfew and community corrections order after pleading guilty to punching 27-year-old Thomas Washbrook outside the Mulwala Water Ski Club in NSW on December 30.

The Boxing Day brawl was not the first altercation May had been caught up in.

In 2022, he was involved in an altercation with teammate Jake Melksham at the Entrecote restaurant in Prahran.

His jaw was broken in 2013 during an off-field clash with former Gold Coast Suns teammate Campbell Brown outside a nightclub in Los Angeles.

The Melbourne and Richmond football clubs declined to comment when contacted by the Herald Sun.The AFL did not respond to a request for comment.

Originally published as Steven May, Dion Prestia no longer facing charges over alleged Sorrento Boxing Day brawl