The AFL Players’ Association (AFLPA) has described the sanctions handed to GWS players as “disproportionate”, saying it has “serious concerns” about the league’s investigation of the club’s post-season function.
The AFL handed suspensions or fines to 13 current and former GWS players on Thursday, with the league saying their behaviour at last month’s function — which featured costumes and skits — was “completely unacceptable”.
Six were suspended, with Josh Fahey given the lengthiest ban of four matches after dressing as former NRL player Jarryd Hayne and simulating “inappropriate acts on a sex doll”.
Toby Greene was one of seven players fined $5,000, with the Giants captain among those punished by the AFL for showing a lack of leadership and failing to stop the performance of the skits.
AFPLA chief executive Paul Marsh acknowledged the behaviour of the Giants players was “unacceptable”.
But Marsh criticised how the AFL conducted its investigation.
“A core element of the AFLPA’s role is to protect the rights of our players, and this includes upholding the agreements within the CBA and the various codes and policies,” Marsh said in a statement.
“We have serious concerns with the way the AFL has conducted their process around this issue.
“They sought to interview players without independent support, did not make relevant materials available to players as part of the interview process, and imposed unreasonable time frames on players to respond to their proposed sanctions.
“This process lacked procedural fairness, and procedural fairness is critical to ensuring integrity and confidence in AFL processes.
“With respect to the proposed sanctions, we believed these were disproportionate, and again made without reference to any sanctioning framework.”
Toby Greene was handed a $5,000 fine by the AFL. (Getty Images: Morgan Hancock)
Marsh said the AFLPA provided a “detailed submission” to the AFL regarding the behaviour of the Giants players.
“We raised concerns with the AFL’s commitment to cultural change within the industry, the process undertaken by the AFL, the proportionality and consistency of their sanctioning, the lack of a sanctioning framework, despite repeatedly raising this with the AFL,” he said.
Marsh said there had been an “inconsistent approach” to how player leaders had been dealt with “as compared to the broader club leaders”.
On Thursday, AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon said the Giants players failed to uphold the league’s values.
“There is nothing funny or clever about these actions and we are not as a code and competition prepared to accept these behaviours,” Dillon said.
“We are also very disappointed that none of the leaders sanctioned sought to stop the behaviour.
“These actions do not represent who we are as a code or who the Giants are as a club that has worked hard to build respect across the western Sydney community.
“We have spent a lot of time, resource and energy working with staff, players and clubs to build environments of respect – respect for women, respect for people of different cultures, respect for the wider community – but clearly, we still have work to do.”
