GWS Giants AFLW veteran Alicia Eva has issued an impassioned response to the men’s team’s infamous Wacky Wednesday party scandal.
GWS are still reeling after six men’s players were suspended and seven others fined for the roles they played in the dress-ups celebrations.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: GWS Giants AFLW captain details ‘incredibly tough week’.
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Josh Fahey copped the heaviest of all the sanctions — a four-match ban — for dressing up as former NRL player Jarryd Hayne and simulating egregious acts on a sex doll.
Hayne had a six-year legal battle with rape charges, which included three trials, two convictions and some time behind bars, before having his case quashed on appeal in June this year.
Speaking on Channel 7’s coverage of Essendon’s AFLW clash with North Melbourne, Eva said the scandal has cut deep, but that it is a chance for the Giants and wider industry to learn and grow.
“It’s been an incredibly tough week for everyone involved in our footy club,” said Eva, who was appearing as a guest expert commentator.
“We were understandably angered and hurt by the behaviour that occurred and we wanted to, as an AFLW side and the public facing women of our club, make our stance known as part of a club wider statement.
“But we are united as a footy club in moving forward from this, and this will be an opportunity for our club and the industry as a whole to learn and get better and make sure everyone feels safe within our football environment.”
Earlier on Saturday, Hayne’s lawyer Margaret Cunneen SC hit back after the former Parramatta and Gold Coast player’s chequered history reared its head again at the Giants’ end-of-season celebrations.
“It’s unfortunate that Mr Hayne’s face is used in reportage of this fancy dress party given the restoration of his good character and quashing of his conviction in by the Court of Criminal Appeal,” Cunneen told News Corp.
Cunneen was by Hayne’s side during his marathon legal battle to clear his name.
Hayne has remained relatively quiet since being released from prison earlier this year.
On Friday, AFLPA chief executive slammed the AFL for their handling of the GWS party scandal.
In a lengthy and scathing statement released on the AFLPA website on Friday afternoon, Marsh acknowledged that the Giants players’ conduct was “unacceptable and raises important matters of respect, inclusion and safety”.
But he has questioned, among a number of things, the process — or lack thereof — the AFL undertook to hand out the sanctions.
“With respect to the proposed sanctions, we believed these were disproportionate, and again made without reference to any sanctioning framework,” the statement reads.
“We note the AFL revised some of the sanctions in response to ours and other submissions.
“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 timeframes 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.”
Responding publicly to Marsh’s comments in a statement provided to 7NEWS on Friday night, a spokesperson for the AFL said: “Making light of any gender-based violence is not acceptable in any setting at any time.
“Both the club and the players have acknowledged that and owned the accountability.
“Respect is not an option, it is a non-negotiable and we will continue to work until everyone in our game understands that.”
As part of the heavy penalties, Fahey was given a four-game suspension, while Jake Riccardi, Joe Fonti, Toby McMullin, Harvey Thomas and Cooper Hamilton were all banned for two matches.
Captain Toby Greene, Sam Taylor, Lachie Whitfield, Connor Idun, Tom Green, Lachie Keeffe and new Collingwood player Harry Perryman were all fined $5000.