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Damien Hardwick 'disappointed' at players involved in Richmond groping controversy

Aug 8th, 2020
Damien Hardwick 'disappointed' at players involved in Richmond groping controversy
Aug 8th, 2020

Richmond coach Damien Hardwick has admitted that Jayden Short and Nick Vlaustin's groping of teammate Mabior Chol was not a great look for the game.

The issue was brought to light by veteran journalist Hugh Riminton in a terse press conference exchange with Hardwick on Friday morning, before the two players apologised to Chol in a club statement later in the day.

Speaking for the first time since the press conference, Hardwick revealed that the club had internally dealt with the matter two days prior to the exchange with Riminton.

However, while he admitted he was "disappointed" at the actions of the defensive duo Short and Vlaustin, Hardwick said dropping the players was never in consideration.

The two incidents involving Jayden Short (L) and Nick Vlaustin (R) inappropriately touching Mabior Chol (Nine)

"We admit it's not a great look for the game and we're disappointed," he told Fox Footy's Saturday Countdown.

"The fact of the matter is, we spoke about it about two days earlier, so we thought we had nipped it in the bud and then obviously yesterday happened and we had to deal with it again.

"We condemn the behaviour obviously, but once again we'll support the individual. It's all about education from our point of view and it's in the eye of the beholder. We'll continue to educate our players and to continue to learn from it."

Hardwick said the club had privately addressed both incidents, despite denying knowledge of it on Friday (Getty)

Despite refusing to answer the questions posed by Riminton in Friday's press conference, Hardwick denied that the issue had been "overblown".

"The reality is, it's a situation that doesn't look great," he said.

"We understand that we're here to set an example and we dealt with it a couple of days ago, so our players are under full understanding that it shouldn't happen and won't happen again.

"It's something that is prevalent in society so we've just got to make sure that we nip it in the bud and continue to set the really good example that we know we can."

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