Former Hawthorn player Carl Peterson appeared drunk or drug-affected and lost his clothing after being picked up by a club official at the airport, the AFL club claims.
Allegations of unlawful discrimination, including family separations and pressuring a pregnancy termination, have been levelled in the Federal Court against the club’s 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 Peterson and Jermaine Miller-Lewis, his partner Montanah-Rae Lewis, and Hawthorn’s former Indigenous liaison officer Leon Egan.
Clarkson, now North Melbourne coach, Brisbane coach Fagan and Burt deny wrongdoing and reject accusations of racism.
The club’s defence, released by the Federal Court today, claims the case is an “abuse of process”.
Peterson returned to Perth in June 2009 after his grandfather became gravely ill during the VFL mid-season break, the club said.
It 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 told Flood he had no money in his bank account and had lost his clothing.
Peterson was recruited to the Hawks in 2008 and has had issues with alcohol previously, with the club stating in court documents he was delisted from Richmond following alcohol use.
From February 2009, Peterson’s partner Nikita Rotumah occasionally contacted Burt concerned about his continued drug use and behaviour, court documents state.
She became pregnant with Peterson’s son in May 2009.
Peterson was delisted from the club in October 2010 after Rotumah informed the club he had taken marijuana earlier in the week during an elimination final.
After finding out Rotumah was pregnant, Peterson 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.”
Rioli claims Clarkson warned him to “be careful not to have babies” as that would disrupt his career in 2011.
He claims the coach questioned his skin colour when he turned up unannounced to Alice Springs while Rioli was visiting his sick dad in hospital.
As part of the claims, 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 are precluded from recovering damages for non-economic loss because they have not sustained a significant injury.
The court claims follow mediation between the group and those accused of racism – including Clarkson and Fagan – 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.
An AFL investigation later produced no adverse findings against Clarkson, Fagan and Burt.
For 24/7 crisis support run by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, contact 13YARN (13 92 76).
