St Mary’s fined $11,500 for fly-in player breaches, coach Vallejo banned for four games

ST Mary’s has been heavily fined and its coach banned from guiding his team in the preliminary final in the massive fallout from the FIFO player scandal

• Club in crisis: St Mary’s FIFO penalties explained

ST Mary’s has been fined a whopping total of $11,500, its coach Anthony Vallejo will miss his team’s next four Premier League games and the Green Machine has had four competition points deducted from the beginning of the 2021-22 season.

The massive and unprecedented penalties are because the club fielded two more players than the three allowed fly-ins during the qualifying final against Wanderers at TIO Stadium on February 27.

St Mary’s coach Anthony Vallejo will miss his team’s next four games as part of AFLNT’s massive penalties handed down to the club following breaches of the NTFL’s residency rules. Picture: Glenn Campbell

The St Mary’s club was found to be in breach of the NTFL by-laws by fielding the additional interstate players.

In line with the NTFL by-law 3.12.14 which states, “where a Men’s Premier League and/or Division 1 team breaches these Fly-In Player rules, that club will be a fined a sum of $10,000”, St Mary’s Football Club has been fined $10,000 and Vallejo suspended for two matches, effective immediately.

Waratah lodged an official complaint on whether Saints defender Lucas Jellyman-Turner was living in Darwin as a permanent resident, after which St Mary’s produced an NT driver’s licence and an up-to-date lease agreement. Picture: Che Chorley

Vallejo also has a suspended sentence of two weeks relating to a charge after the 2019-20 Grand Final, which means he will not be able to coach and or fill any official role until Round 3 of the 2021-22 season.

St Mary’s also has carry-over charges from the Division 2 walk-off during the current season.

As a result, the club will be fined a further $1500 and, as per the terms of the suspended sentence, the Premier League team will also be deducted four competition points at the start of next season.

The AFLNT concluded its week-long investigation late on Thursday night.

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That was after Waratah lodged an official complaint on whether Saints defender Lucas Jellyman-Turner was living in Darwin as a permanent resident, after which St Mary’s produced an NT driver’s licence and an up-to-date lease agreement.

“We are disappointed that there has been a breach of our rules regarding fly-in players,” AFLNT Community Football Manager Leigh Elder said.

“To the credit of St Mary’s, they have acknowledged the brief and have accepted the sanctions imposed by AFLNT.”

St Mary’s president Adrian Moscheni said the club accepted that on this occasion it made a mistake with regard to its understanding of those players eligible to play, relative to its residency status in the NT.

“Circumstances had changed for particular players and we didn’t review our fly-in list relative to these changes,” he said.

“We accept the penalties as fair and reasonable in relation to our breach for this game and are happy that we can now move on and focus on the weekend’s game.”

The massive penalties will come as a huge distraction for the Green Machine, with the men’s Premier League team to face Wanderers in the preliminary final at TIO Stadium on Saturday night.

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But AFLNT and St Mary’s said they both looked forward to working together in the off-season as part of an overall review with clubs on the ongoing issue of fly-in by-laws.