Adelaide 36ers issue a strong statement to the players involved in an alleged attack in Carins CBD at 3am after a game
After saying the Adelaide 36ers players allegedly verbally abused and physically attacked on a night out in Cairns had done no wrong, the organisation has told of its disappointment in them.
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The Adelaide 36ers have done an about-face over a late night incident in Cairns, criticising players who were allegedly heckled and attacked by two local men for putting themselves in danger.
On Monday, club bosses said players had not been under any curfew on Saturday night following their heavy loss to the Cairns Taipans, and had not breached any club standards or expectations.
But yesterday the Sixers released a statement criticising the players involved.
“While our players were not subject to police action, we are disappointed they put themselves in a potentially dangerous position,” the club said.
“Following an unsatisfactory performance against the Cairns Taipans, we expect the playing group to be solely focused on the task of competing for a place in the finals and we look forward to Saturday night’s home game against Brisbane.”
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Two Cairns men, aged 20 and 21, allegedly heckled US import Jerome Randle, fellow import Eric Griffin and development player Alex Mudronja as they returned from Gilligan’s resort to their hotel about 3am on Sunday morning.
Police allege the incident then escalated into a physical altercation before officers arrived and took the two locals into custody.
They will appear in the Cairns Magistrate Court next month charged with public nuisance.
The Advertiser understands another two Sixers, veteran Daniel Johnson and young centre Harry Froling, were also heckled by the two men minutes before the incident.
The players had earlier been socialising at the Reef Hotel Casino, which was the official after-game venue, before moving on to Gilligan’s, then returning to the Pullman Cairns International hotel.
On Monday, club chief executive Ben Kavenagh said: “We are aware that an incident occurred, our players do have behaviours and standards that we expect and none of which were breached.”
Similarly, general manager Jeff Van Gronigen said: “They do have a curfew at certain times of the week to do with a strategic period (leading up to games)”.
“We have an expected level of behaviour at all times and we are very confident that has not been breached by our players,” he added.
Despite the incident and the loss, the Sixers appeared in good spirits at practice yesterday. Randle and Griffin were filmed joking around during the session.
Originally published as Adelaide 36ers issue a strong statement to the players involved in an alleged attack in Carins CBD at 3am after a game