Hawthorn has levelled 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 pregnancy termination, have been levelled 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 accusations of racism.
An AFL investigation produced no adverse findings against the trio.
The club’s defence to the claims was released by the Federal Court on Thursday, alleging 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 game.
Hawthorn have levelled drug and alcohol claims against one of it’s 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 over the bombshell racism allegations
Peterson was delisted from the club the following month.
From February 2009, Ms Rotumah occasionally contacted Burt raising concerns about Peterson’s continued drug use and behaviour, court documents state.
During the VFL mid-season break in June 2009, Peterson travelled to Perth after his grandfather become gravely ill.
The club alleges 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 he had no money in his bank account and had lost his clothing.
After finding out 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 only on your football’, warning his career would be in jeopardy if the pregnancy wasn’t terminated.
The club denied disapproving of their relationship, saying it arranged for the couple to have counselling and disputed that the meeting where Peterson was encouraged to terminate his partner’s pregnancy ever occurred.
Rioli claims Clarkson warned him to ‘be careful not to have babies’ as that would disrupt his career in 2011, after visiting him in Darwin at his uncle’s home.
Claims were made that Peterson was removed from the 2010 elimination final against Fremantle because his partner said he had used marijuana in the week before the game
Cyril Rioli (pictured) is the lead applicant in the claims being made against Hawthorn alongside his wife Shannyn Ah Sam-Rioli
The club said while Clarkson did attend, it did not know what was said in 2011.
But it admitted the coach questioned Rioli’s skin colour when he turned up unannounced to Alice Springs in 2017 while the player was visiting his sick dad in hospital.
Court documents stated Rioli and his wife complained to the club after former Hawks player Grant Birchall allegedly asked Indigenous teammate Bradley Hill whether his partner was a ‘b**ng’ and that no action was taken.
But the club denied no action was taken, saying Jarryd Roughead, who was part of the team’s leadership group, overheard and counselled Birchall 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 this led to his mental health decline.
Multiple requests for Ms Lewis and their child to visit Miller-Lewis in Melbourne were allegedly refused and on one occasion Ms Lewis was told their visit would be a distraction to his career.
The club denied saying 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 suffered injury, loss and damage from their experiences at the club, including distress, pain and suffering, psychological harm and a loss of earnings and earning capacity.
But the club said Peterson, Rioli and Miller-Lewis cannot recover damages for non-economic loss because they have not sustained a significant injury.
Clarkson (left), who now coaches North Melbourne, Brisbane coach Fagan (right) and Burt deny wrongdoing and reject accusations of racism
The court fight follows mediation between the group and those accused of racism being terminated by the Human Rights Commission in May.
Hawthorn commissioned and released the findings from a cultural safety review in 2022 to investigate allegations of systemic mistreatment of First Nations players at the club.
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