Badly behaving local footballers who have faced southeast courts
These suburban footy players may have starred on the ground but off-field their performances were far from Brownlow-worthy.
South East
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This collection of ball magnets, goal-getters and tough tacklers has not fared so well out of the local footy limelight, having to front up to the legal umpire on a range of drugs, driving and assault charges.
4G ICE A DAY ‘JUNKIE’
This Rosebud footballer might have hit his opponents hard on the pitch, but hit the ice much harder off the ground.
The pushie-riding drug pusher used so much meth he was labelled a “junkie” by his own family.
Jonathan Palmer was smoking upwards of 4g of ice a day when he was nabbed on his bike with a backpack containing cannabis, meth, digital scales and dealing gear.
The Rosebud 28-year-old had bags of ice weighing 4.5g, 3g of cannabis and $670 in cash strapped to his back.
He was on bail at the time after he had been caught by cops hiding in a shed with stolen bank and Medicare cards and a nicked driving licence – and yet more ice.
His defence lawyer said Palmer was a decent football player for Rosebud before he started taking drugs and since then he had been basically disowned by his family.
He was sent for a community corrections order assessment to be sentenced at a later date.
‘SPARROW’ GROUNDED
A tough-tackling Rye midfield tagger was so sloshed he was unable to shake the police dog squad’s close attention after he drunkenly crashed his car into a hedge.
Sam Smith was caught by the K9 unit hiding under a house an hour after the sozzled smash — but the plastered bricklayer refused to take a breath test.
The 31-year-old had careered his four-wheel-drive through a Sorrento garden, across a driveway and into a fence before he and a mate jumped out and ran off.
Smith was discovered, highly intoxicated, hiding under a house after leaving his Landrover Discovery at the scene.
He was taken to Rosebud police station but was so drunk he couldn’t be interviewed.
Nicknamed “Sparrow”, the Demon midfielder has a poor past when it comes to drinking and driving, having also refused a breath test in 2015.
The magistrate said he was “right on the cusp of going to jail”, fining him $2250 and banning him from driving for four years.
HIGH CONTACT
A former goalkicking machine who flew high — on and off the field — is now having to train in a prison exercise yard after coward-punching a fellow drug user at a NA meeting.
In an act of unprovoked violence Shaydon Leigh Bloomfield delivered a vicious blow which sparked out another junkie.
The 32-year-old, who plays for Red Hill Football Netball Club, was a star at Lara and Albion before his drug issues and a gambling addiction sent him off the rails.
As well as being a footballer and father of a 10-year-old, Bloomfield is also an Indigenous artist and video producer who designed the Red Hill reconciliation jumper.
His defence lawyer said he was grieving the loss of his brother, a boxer who had died of a heart attack, but knows he “should have walked away” and this was “not an appropriate way to deal with his emotions”.
The magistrate said it could have potentially been a fatal one-punch attack.
In his heyday Bloomfield regularly kicked big bags and was described by the Geelong Advertiser as “the ultimate excitement machine”.
His life is a little less thrilling now, after he was sentenced to five months in prison.
NOT A GOOD ROLE MODEL
A VFL player who kicked his ex-girlfriend and grabbed her by the throat during an argument escaped a conviction — because he mentors young footballers.
Luke Edmondson, a former Frankston Dolphin and Port Melbourne player who was once invited to train with the Collingwood AFL side, also had stints at Kyneton and Tooradin-Dalmore.
The then 29-year-old pushed the woman into a bedroom window before putting his hands around her around the neck and kicking her leg.
His lawyer described him as a “gifted footballer” and mentor to young players, who was clearly remorseful for his “completely unacceptable” behaviour.
The magistrate said when a man grabbed a woman by the throat it is a well-known “red flag” indication he may well go on to commit future violence.
But he said he didn’t want to deny Edmondson a chance to guide young players.
He was given a 12-month bond and ordered to do a men’s behavioural change program and donate $500 to the White Ribbon Foundation.
STRONG RIGHT FOOT
A self-proclaimed “idiot” was nabbed doing nearly a ton in a quiet suburban street and chose to question the umpire, taking his fine and ban to court.
But the magistrate was unimpressed, and benched the reckless road rule rogue for a year and increased his fine.
Jak Nardino was 19 when he was snapped by a speed camera racing along Lyrebird Drive in Carrum Downs at 96km/h – which is a 50km/h zone.
He was not intercepted and a $700 fine was sent to his home.
Nardino, who has played for the Sandringham Dragons and the Beaumaris Sharks, represented himself in court, saying he didn’t think the penalty was fair.
“I was being an idiot, I had a passenger with me at the time, I was hanging out with the wrong crowd,” he said.
The magistrate said he was extremely lucky he wasn’t facing charges “upstairs” – at the County Court – which would have happened if he had hit someone.
“If a child had walked out at that time, you could have killed them,” he said.
He was fined $1250 and disqualified from driving for 12 months.
