Trent Croad supports Alastair Clarkson as AFL appoints former Bulldogs president Peter Gordon as its own counsel
A Hawthorn premiership player has offered full support to his former coach Alastair Clarkson in the wake of the shock allegations levelled against him.
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The AFL has appointed former Western Bulldogs president and experienced class action lawyer Peter Gordon as its own counsel ahead of the investigation into allegations of Hawthorn’s mistreatment of First Nations players.
The AFL’s attempts to form an independent panel that will interview both the coaches and alleged victims will drift into a third day as the league balances the interests of both parties.
The league is confident the four families at the heart of the report will be prepared to be interviewed by the panel.
Former Hawks staffer Jason Burt as well as coaches Alastair Clarkson and Chris Fagan will also be interviewed for the first time about the allegations.
The Herald Sun revealed on Thursday that some of the allegations had been corroborated in the official Hawthorn report handed to the AFL.
The Herald Sun has been unable to confirm which allegations had been
corroborated but the Herald Sun is not suggesting the information proves the allegations.
Gordon is already working with the AFL on its concussion issues and was the AFL’s lawyer as former Gold Coast player Joel Wilkinson took action against the league.
Wilkinson, who has Nigerian heritage, took the league to the Australian Human Rights Commission and alleged his career was ended after racism, religious vilification and racially motivated sexual harassment.
The gravity of the accusations means there could eventually be multiple court actions.
AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan said on Friday the league would work as fast as it could to establish a process that was “fair, independent and safe.”
“I think the right response is we will expedite it because we need to for both the courageous claimants and for those accused,” McLachlan said.
“But that is as fast as it can. We need the right panel, we need the right process, and everyone needs to feel safe telling their story. There is a group of panellists being reviewed and interviewed, and sitting with various people who have got a stake and a say in this.”
In a letter to Hawthorn members on Friday Hawks chief executive Justin Reeves defended the club’s decision not to release the review.
“Upon receipt of that report, we immediately engaged AFL Integrity — both because it was a recommendation, and because it was the most appropriate next step,” he wrote.
“From here, those named in the reports would be interviewed and be given the opportunity to respond and tell their story.”
West Coast became the latest club to consider how it would review its own history with Indigenous players as chairman Russell Gibbs said the club believed it created a culturally safe space.
“West Coast is open to further review our practices to ensure that all our Indigenous players and their families — past and present — reflect with pride on their relationship with the West Coast Eagles, as the West Coast Eagles does with them,” Gibbs said on Friday.
Premiership Hawk Trent Croad has offered full support to his former coach Clarkson in the wake of the shock allegations levelled against him.
Croad, who was brought back to the club from Fremantle for the 2005 season in Clarkson’s first year as coach, said he only brought the team together and had absolute respect for Indigenous players.
“He was the best coach ever to us and him and (wife) Caryn did nothing but promote us and make us better people,” Croad told the Herald Sun.
“How he managed players of all backgrounds was incredible, there was no discrimination of any player. I was gutted when I saw the comments and my first reaction was no, that is not Alastair Clarkson, the man I knew. It has rattled me and other premiership players.
“(Alastair) and Caryn bring people together,” Croad said.
“What comes out at the end of that is a team — an absolute brotherhood. Clarko doesn’t actually coach football, he knows what to do behind the scenes. We did Kokoda, he makes us realise how lucky we are.
“The respect he had for his Aboriginal players was incredible. The belief he had in Chance Bateman, the effect he had on Lance Franklin, Cyril Rioli, made them incredible players. He managed them as men and people. That’s why I stand tall today knowing I was coached by Alastair Clarkson.”
HAWKS CEO DEFENDS NOT RELEASING ‘DISTURBING’ RACISM REVIEW
Hawthorn chief executive Justin Reeves has defended the club’s decision not to release its review into its treatment of First Nations players.
“Disturbing” allegations from the report - which was commissioned by the Hawks earlier this year - were reported this week, with key Hawks figures including Alastair Clarkson and Chris Fagan named amid startling allegations levelled by former players.
In a letter to members on Friday, Reeves said queries surrounding why the report - authored by former Richmond player Phil Egan - had not been publicly released were “a good question” but maintained that the club would not breach the trust of those involved.
“The report ... found the current environment is culturally safe,” he said.
“But this is something we should focus our attention on and strive for ongoing improvement. My commitment is that we will continue to do that.
“As you may have now seen, the AFL is commencing a process to investigate the matters fully. We are completely supportive of this and will cooperate. This may take some time, but we want to assure you all we are committed to this work, and we will keep you all up to date as appropriate.
“We know that the past few days have been challenging, but we must use this as an opportunity to improve our club and make it the best it can possibly be.”
The AFL has interviewed prospective panellists for the investigation with representatives for the complainants, the AFL Players’ Association and AFL Coaches’ Association to also be involved with the final appointments.
Reeves said those named in the initial report will now have an opportunity to talk.
“Upon receipt of that report, we immediately engaged AFL Integrity – both because it was a recommendation, and because it was the most appropriate next step,” he wrote.
“From here, those named in the reports would be interviewed and be given the opportunity to respond and tell their story.
“The club will continue to offer support to those who have participated in this process, and their wellbeing remains our priority. We want to assure you that will continue to be the case.”
Reeves says the club is “profoundly heartbroken” by the “disturbing” revelations its review into its recent past with First Nation players has uncovered.
Reeves said it had been “a very challenging time for our club” .
“Earlier this year, following some media reports, Hawthorn Football Club engaged external First Nations consultants to liaise with current and former First Nations players and staff to learn more about their experience at the club,” he wrote.
“This was always about finding out if any of them required any further support in their life after football and learn more about their time at Hawthorn.
“We did not know what we would find, but we felt it was an important and responsible thing to do.
“Around two weeks ago we received the results of that work. And as you can now see, some of those stories are disturbing.
“We are profoundly heartbroken that there are people who feel like this about their experience at our club.”
He also explained more of the process around why the likes of Clarkson and Fagan were not interviewed, with an external investigation to now engage with other parties.
Two clubs back probes after superstar’s plea
Two AFL clubs have so far committed to taking steps to review its recent history with First Nations players, in the wake of disturbing allegations raised in a Hawthorn report.
Sydney has formed a subcommittee of its board, chaired by legendary Indigenous Swan Michael O’Loughlin, while Fremantle has said it is open to reviewing its historical treatment of First Nations players.
The AFL Players’ Association backed a call from Eddie Betts for every club to review their historical treatment of Indigenous and First Nations players after reviews by Collingwood and Hawthorn revealed confronting details.
News Corp contacted the other 16 clubs and asked if they would be conducting a comprehensive external review into the treatment of Indigenous and First Nations players and families both current and past.
The majority of clubs declined to comment or did not yet commit to a review in the wake of the disturbing allegations of the Hawks treatment of players and their families.
The Swans subcommittee board includes Andrew Pridham, Tom Harley, Belinda Rowe and O’Loughlin.
“The Sydney Swans take the recently identified First Nations matter very seriously,” the Swans statement said.
The Swans said its subcommittee will “consider how we will deal, as a Club, with relevant issues.”
O’Loughlin played 303 games for Sydney in his career, and was the third Indigenous player to reach 300 games in the AFL.
Pridham is the chairman of the Swans, Harley the chief executive and Rowe is a board member.
Fremantle president Dale Alcock said the Dockers could also review its past.
“Since inception, the Fremantle Football Club has had a continuous history of strong Indigenous representation across both our men’s and women’s teams, as well as our board and administration, including our current club patron,” he said.
“We are always looking at ways to improve on this legacy and are open to reviewing our past in a more formal capacity to ensure accurate truth telling of our history.”
North Melbourne, the Western Bulldogs and St Kilda declined to comment when approached by the Herald Sun, while Melbourne were unable to provide a response in the time frame provided.
Brisbane said it would be a decision for its board when it next meets, while Gold Coast said it was continuing to discuss the issue with its board, players, staff and the AFL.
Adelaide said it was “ … committed to learning from the past and continually striving to be better.”
Port Adelaide said it would wait for the learnings from the AFL’s independent investigation into the allegations at Hawthorn.
Geelong said it supported the AFL and subsequent actions from the investigation.
Carlton, Essendon, GWS, Richmond and West Coast did not respond to questions in time to deadline.
AFLPA boss Paul Marsh said it is “clear” that football has an issue with its treatment of First Nations people.
“We support Eddie Betts’ suggestion yesterday of a club-by-club review,” Marsh told the Herald Sun.
“While respecting the process that will take place around the Hawthorn report, what is clear is that the AFL industry has an issue with the treatment of First Nations and multicultural players.
“These are, at their core, human rights issues.
“To move forward, the industry has to understand, acknowledge and seek to repair the issues of the past.”
League chief executive Gillon McLachlan said on Thursday Betts’ call was one of many “good suggestions” to have emerged in recent days.
“There’s a lot of good suggestions and there’s a lot of people with views that need to be heard,” McLachlan said.
“Our priority at the moment is to finalise the terms of reference (for the external review) and get the independent panel together and kick these off.
“These are incredibly serious allegations that took huge courage by a number of people to come forward and we need to obviously give the accused time to respond and get to the bottom of this as quickly as we can.”
Betts, one of the most popular Indigenous players in the modern game as a result of his 350-game career with Carlton and Adelaide, called on all AFL clubs to review their historical treatment of First Nations players as a result of the allegations.
“This could happen at any football club,” Betts said on Fox Footy on Wednesday night.
“And I think that every football club should do a review like this.”
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