Cats not ‘tiptoeing’ around Smith’s social media posts; Winmar’s prominent role in racism case

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Veteran Age journalist Caroline Wilson also wrote a column on the weekend, furious at how he had depicted her.

“When you come off-field, the interest in him is just unbelievable. He has a very different relationship with social media to ... our age profile,” Hocking said on Thursday in a wide-ranging SEN interview.

“I don’t understand it at all.

“He works that exceptionally well. There will be a time, in my view, and this will involve all of us over the off-season, where we just need to have some reflection.

“It’s not about tiptoeing around someone like Bailey but more about tailoring it accordingly.

“We’re really, really early in the relationship.”

Hocking also reiterated the club’s crackdown on Mad Monday, which will be changed.

“There are certain individuals who have dressed up inappropriately and we apologise ... we’ve been quite clear on that,” he said.

Hocking said the AFL investigation into their third-party arrangements was “intensive”.

“As far as vindication goes, I’m certainly not sitting here and going ‘you beauty’ and punching the air,” he said.

“It’s been six months’ work of work and if I said to either one of you, you’re going to hand over your laptop and your phone ... they were taken for four hours.

“There will be a range of people out there who think there’s a cover-up, I’ve had a relationship at the AFL, I’ve worked there, Geelong may have been receiving some favours – it’s not the case.

“It’s actually one of the more trying things I’ve been involved in.”

Hocking said Geelong was now a destination club for top players because “the postcode really has helped us enormously ... it is the place of choice”.

He was asked about Kelleher, who joined the AFL late last year in a role where he liaises with clubs about financial matters, including audits.

“Really importantly, no – [he was] kept very separate by the AFL,” Hocking said.

He added Geelong realised they needed to put their player payments and football department soft-cap spending under the AFL’s microscope.

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“Other clubs were starting to question, ‘How do you get access to these players?’ They don’t understand how frugal we are when it comes to managing our list and TPP.

“Off the back of that, we identified this and then what we did was, we said ‘Hey, I think we need to hand ourselves over and open right up here’. Wherever this goes, it goes.

“If you end up with too many barnacles on the boat, it’s only going to go one way. We need to remove a few of those.”

AAP

‘Safe place’: Winmar opens up on racism class action against AFL

Jon Pierik

Football great Nicky Winmar says he wants to ensure the AFL is a safe place for Indigenous players after the Supreme Court ruled he can join Phil Krakouer as lead plaintiffs in a racism class action against the league.

The Supreme Court of Victoria ruled on Thursday that Winmar, the former St Kilda and Western Bulldogs champion, can take on a more prominent role, joining Krakouer, the former North Melbourne star, in the landmark case against the AFL. The class action also includes Krakouer’s brother, James Krakouer.

Winmar, 60, was already a group member in the case, in which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander VFL and AFL players are seeking recompense for alleged racist abuse suffered during their football careers.

They allege injury, loss and damage, claiming the AFL failed to provide a culturally safe environment, leaving them susceptible to racial abuse from spectators and opposition players.

“I am proud to stand alongside Phil in support of Aboriginal players who have suffered racism in the course of playing in the AFL,” Winmar said.

“I want to ensure that former Aboriginal players get the support that they need. I want to ensure that the AFL is a safe place for current and future generations of Aboriginal players.”

Krakouer said the AFL should have done more to protect players.

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“Opposition players and spectators felt they were entitled to racially abuse us during our careers. It was never right and the AFL should have done more to rid the game of racism and protect us,” Krakouer said.

Winmar featured in one of the league’s most defining moments in 1993 when, as a St Kilda player, he took a powerful stand against racism by lifting his jumper and pointing to his skin having been abused by Collingwood supporters at Victoria Park.

He played 230 games for the Saints between 1987 and 1998, before ending his career with the Western Bulldogs in 1999.

“The racial abuse had a profound impact not only on Nicky and me but our families and other players and their families within the AFL community,” Krakouer said.

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In a statement, the AFL said it had “long supported Nicky Winmar’s stance against racism”.

“As a code we are privileged to have had hundreds of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander players who have played our game,” the statement saidl.

“We also fully acknowledge during our long history of the game there has been racism in Australian football and that players have been marginalised, hurt or discriminated against because of their race and for that we have apologised and continue to apologise and will continue to act to address that harm.

“While Margalit Lawyers continue to regularly change their claim, we do not agree with its central view that the VFL/AFL has been conducted negligently over the past 47 years, and we will defend those claims.”

Winmar’s elevation comes at a time when he remains on bail, accused of two assaults and of intentionally choking a person. He has been charged with allegedly committing two assaults on July 18.

He is also charged with “without lawful excuse intentionally choke, strangle or suffocate” a person on the same date, according to documents in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court, which heard last month that Winmar intended to take the criminal charges to a contest mention hearing. The next hearing on the criminal allegations will be on November 21.

The Supreme Court released new orders in the racism case, including that judicial mediation not occur before March 16 next year.

The amended group member definition now means a player must have featured in the then VFL, and now AFL, from May 1980 to October 9, 2025 and identify as Aboriginal or a Torres Strait Islander person and is of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent to be included. The original statement of claim included players from 1975 until 2022.

Umpires, officials and other AFL staff can no longer be a part of the action.

Margalit Injury Lawyers managing principal Michel Margalit said the players deserved “meaningful reparation”.

Margalit is also leading a concussion class action against the AFL, involving former Geelong premiership star Max Rooke as the lead plaintiff.

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