Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
Hawthorn have defended their handling of the arrest of Dylan Moore and Connor Macdonald, despite the off-field drama casting a shadow over their crunch AFL match against Essendon.
The traditional rivals clash at the MCG on Friday night, but the players’ arrest was a major talking point two days out from the round-one game, with the pair also addressing the playing group and coach Sam Mitchell on Wednesday.
The two men spent a night in an Arizona jail in November for alleged trespassing after climbing a scissor lift while out drinking.
Hawthorn’s executive general manager of football Rob McCartney said the incident wasn’t made public sooner for legal reasons.
“It was a current legal matter at that time and we didn’t want to impact or impede those proceedings, so it was a really easy decision for us to make,” McCartney said at Hawks headquarters.
“We always knew that this had the ability to be a story, and I think we’ve managed that extremely well throughout the process.”
The players still have pending court dates in the US later this year, but McCartney said they had already completed court orders.
While 26-year-old Moore was stripped of his title as Hawks vice-captain, the duo have faced financial sanctions, community service and re-education.
“There’s still some things to play out, but they’ve already done the things that the courts expect of them, and we expected that in the next couple of months, that will be when the closure comes,” McCartney said.
“They accepted the consequences that would come with the behaviour, they were extremely remorseful right from day one and (showed) a willingness to re-educate, and I don’t think we can ask for much more post the event.”
Mitchell said while he was initially disappointed to hear of their arrest, the club had moved on and felt the players had done all they could to make amends.
“I was very disappointed when first hearing about it, but it was a few months ago now,” he said.
“They have done every single thing that you would expect of them since then, so there’s a big part of us that has moved on.
“We understand they made some very poor decisions, but we heard about it while they were still there, still in the middle of it, and they’ve kept us in the loop the whole way through … it’s not like this is a lingering thing for us.”
