Lauren Motlop on self-imposed suspension after on field verbal ‘abuse’ claims spill into court

An NTFL player has self-suspended from the premier league competition after allegedly hurling verbal abuse at an opponent.

AN NTFL player has suspended herself from the premier league competition after allegedly hurling verbal abuse at an opponent who has since applied for a restraining order against her.

Wanderers president Jerome Cubillo confirmed Lauren Motlop had agreed to the self-imposed suspension and apologised following the incident during the team’s round three clash against Nightcliff last month.

A teammate of the woman on the receiving end of Motlop’s alleged verbal tirade, who did not want to be named, said players from both sides heard the diatribe.

“Lauren was verbally abusing (her) all game … this happened many times throughout the game,” she said.

“Even her teammates from Wanderers heard this too, (after) which one of the girls went up to (her) and hugged her and said ‘It’s OK, you know, don’t worry about her’.”

The Nightcliff player said her teammate felt so unsafe she was escorted from the ground by NTFL staff and had even taken Motlop to court in a bid to get a restraining order against her.

“She went to see lawyers to take out a personal violence order so that did go to court last week however the judge has referred it on to mediation,” she said.

“(She) said that she’s not attending any face-to-face mediations because it’s just too much for her to sit in a room with Lauren.”

Lauren Motlop.

Mr Cubillo said “Wanderers don’t accept any type of bullying or harassment behaviour for our players on and off the field”.

“Some of that unfortunately wasn’t shown by Wanderers on that day to the best of the ability and leadership and the calibre of that person that we all know and have come to expect,” he said.

“But we’ve handled that with Nightcliff and through the complaints officer process and system and have come to an amicable agreement between both clubs and it didn’t require any further action from AFLNT.

“Our player had also provided an apology to the Nightcliff player and to her club and also put in place some of her own self-imposed suspension also noting that the behaviour and the conduct wasn’t what she expects of herself.

“So we kind of have closed and moved forward with that and we’re happy with that closure and outcome of that matter from our perspective.”

NTFL competition manager, Gavin May, said the league was aware of the incident.

“After a complaint was lodged, the NTFL engaged both clubs in an informal complaints process as per AFLNT policy and both clubs expressed they were satisfied with their united outcome,” he said.

“At this stage, no further escalation from the NTFL is required.”

Nightcliff president Graeme Shaw was contacted for comment.