Hawthorn has made drug use allegations against a former player as the AFL club responds to explosive racism claims.
Allegations of unlawful discrimination, including family separations and pressuring a termination of pregnancy, have been leveled in the Federal Court against the club and its former coach Alastair Clarkson, his former assistant Chris Fagan and former welfare manager Jason Burt.
AFL premiership star Cyril Rioli is the lead applicant alongside his wife Shannyn Ah Sam-Rioli, former players Carl Peterson and Jermaine Miller-Lewis, his partner Montanah-Rae Lewis and Hawthorn’s former Indigenous liaison officer Leon Egan.
Clarkson, who now coaches North Melbourne, Brisbane coach Fagan and Burt deny wrongdoing and reject allegations of racism.
An AFL investigation made no adverse findings against the trio.
The club’s defense The claim was released by the Federal Court on Thursday, claiming that Peterson was removed from the team that lost the 2010 elimination final to Fremantle because his partner Nikita Rotumah said he had used marijuana in the week before the match.
Hawthorn has made drug and alcohol claims against one of its former players Carl Peterson
Ex-Hawks head coach Alastair Clarkson (left) and his former assistant Chris Fagan (pictured together in 2015) have denied any wrongdoing following the racism allegations
Peterson was dropped from the club the following month.
Beginning in February 2009, Ms. Rotumah occasionally contacted Burt, expressing concerns about Peterson’s continued drug use and behavior, court documents show.
During the VFL mid-season break in June 2009, Peterson traveled to Perth after his grandfather became seriously ill.
The club claims that when then development coach David Flood picked up Peterson from Melbourne Airport upon his return, the player was ‘incoherent’ and ‘appeared to be affected by alcohol or illicit substances’.
He also allegedly told Flood that he had no money in his bank account and had lost his clothes.
After finding out that Ms. Rotumah was pregnant in 2009, Peterson said he was called into a meeting with Clarkson, Fagan and Burt, where the head coach allegedly told him, “You need to break up with Nikita and focus on your football alone.” concentrate’, warning his colleagues. career would be at risk if the pregnancy was not terminated.
The club denied disapproving of their relationship, said it had arranged for the couple to receive counseling and disputed that the meeting in which Peterson was encouraged to terminate his partner’s pregnancy ever took place.
Rioli claims Clarkson warned him to “be careful not to have any babies” as it would disrupt his career in 2011 after visiting him in Darwin at his uncle’s house.
It was claimed that Peterson was removed from the 2010 elimination final against Fremantle because his partner said he had used marijuana in the week before the match.
Cyril Rioli (pictured) is the lead plaintiff in the claims against Hawthorn, along with his wife Shannyn Ah Sam-Rioli
The club said that although Clarkson was present, he did not know what was said in 2011.
But it admitted the coach questioned Rioli’s skin color when he turned up unannounced at Alice Springs in 2017 while the player was visiting his ailing father in hospital.
Court documents said Rioli and his wife complained to the club after former Hawks player Grant Birchall allegedly asked Indigenous teammate Bradley Hill if his partner was a ‘b**ng’ and no action was taken .
But the club denied no action had been taken and said Jarryd Roughead, who was part of the team’s leadership group, had overheard Birchall and offered advice before comforting Hill and facilitating an apology from Birchall.
Miller-Lewis claimed the club tried to separate him from his partner Montanah Rae Lewis after the birth of their baby and that this led to a decline in his mental health.
Multiple requests for Ms Lewis and their child to visit Miller-Lewis in Melbourne were reportedly rejected and on one occasion Ms Lewis was told their visit would be a distraction to his career.
The club denied that Ms Lewis and the baby needed permission to visit him. It said it offered first-year rookie players 10 free flights per year, of which the couple used four.
The players say they have suffered injuries, loss and damage from their experiences at the club, including distress, pain and suffering, psychological damage and loss of income and earning capacity.
But the club said Peterson, Rioli and Miller-Lewis cannot recover damages for non-economic losses because they did not suffer a significant injury.
Clarkson (left), who now coaches North Melbourne, Brisbane coach Fagan (right) and Burt deny wrongdoing and reject allegations of racism
The lawsuit follows mediation between the group and those accused of racism, which was ended by the Human Rights Commission in May.
Hawthorn commissioned and published the findings of a cultural safety review in 2022 to investigate allegations of systemic mistreatment of First Nations players at the club.
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