Max Jones sues Geelong Grammar School, NBA star Jock Landale over alleged assault

Sam Newman has backed his son’s legal battle with an NBA star over an alleged schoolyard beating at Geelong Grammar that left him with a “debilitating back injury”.

TV and footy legend Sam Newman has thrown his support behind his son, as he pursues legal action against the state’s most exclusive college and NBA star Jock Landale over an alleged violent assault while they were schoolmates.

Former Geelong Grammar student Max Jones is taking action against the school for negligence, failing to supervise him and “failing to institute a culture at the school th­at ­prevented the abuse of students by fellow students”.

Newman told the Herald Sun his son had his “full support”.

“I have not been involved in Max’s action but having said that he is quite entitled to pursue whatever course he thinks is justified and in that endeavour he has my full support,” he said.

“I know that Max suffered a debilitating back injury during an incident with another student at the school he attended and it is an ongoing problem today.”

Mr Jones was in year 10 at the Corio campus when he says Landale – now a Boomer and one of Australia’s highest-paid sports stars – forced him to the ground and attacked him on February 7, 2013.

In a writ obtained by the Herald Sun, Mr Jones, 25, alleges that Landale committed battery on him when he repeatedly jumped on his lower stomach to the beat of a song playing through a portable speaker inside the school’s Manifold House common room.

Max Jones and Keira Lewis

He alleges he was forced to undergo a discectomy – the removal of discs in the spine – a week later as a ­direct result of the incident.

Landale, 27, one of the country’s most successful basketballers, was part of the bronze medal-­winning Australian team at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The 2.11m tall athlete played for the NBL’s Melbourne United before joining the San Antonio Spurs in 2021.

He is currently a centre for the Phoenix Suns, earning $2.3m a year, and is engaged to India Maddern, the niece of Channel 7 presenter Rebecca Maddern.

Mr Jones has enlisted the legal firm Arnold Thomas and Becker and is suing both Landale, who was a year 12 student at the time of the alleged ­attack, and the school for loss of past and future earnings and medical expenses.

NBA star Jock Landale with India Maddern Picture: Instagram/@indiamaddern

Jock Landale takes to the court for the Phoenix Suns. Picture: Getty Images

He alleges that “the incident constituted a battery at common law for which the ­second defendant (Landale) is directly liable”.

“As a result of the incident and the injuries caused by the incident, the plaintiff’s ability to concentrate and study was prejudiced,” the writ states.

Geelong Grammar has ­denied the claims, stating Manifold House was supervised at all times and Mr Jones did not report the assault when it ­allegedly took place.

Landale has denied the alleged assault and all other allegations levelled against him by Mr Jones.

An Arnold Thomas and Becker spokeswoman said Mr Jones’s solicitor was unable to comment on the matter as it was before the court.

Sam Newman’s son Max Jones was allegedly assaulted. Picture: Daniel Pockett

Mr Jones told the Herald Sun in 2020 that he wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps by forging a media career, after a serious back injury in his mid teens stopped him from playing football or basketball.

He is the son of Newman and Leonie Jones, one of the Geelong great’s former partners.

Landale has told Fox Sports that his time at Geelong Grammar’s year nine Timbertop campus was “one of my most enjoyable years of my life”.

He played college basketball for the St Mary’s Gaels in California and signed with the Atlanta Hawks in the NBA summer league in 2018 after not being picked in the NBA draft that year.

Solicitors for the school and Mr Landale’s legal team both declined to comment.