‘A lot of people would react that way’: Tigers throw full support behind nightclub fight pairMax Laughton
Fox Sports
May 10th, 2021 8:28 pmRichmond coach Damien Hardwick believes “anyone” would have reacted as Daniel Rioli did when he reportedly defended his partner, leading to a nightclub fight over the weekend.
The Tigers boss told Fox Footy’s AFL 360 the club fully believes Rioli and teammate Shai Bolton weren’t to blame for the incident at a Melbourne CBD nightclub.
The pair were out with their partners, celebrating a birthday, when Rioli’s girlfriend was inappropriately spoken to. The premiership Tiger stood up for her but was punched in the face, with Bolton then having his wrist broken during the ensuing scuffle.
While Hardwick was at pains to say the club didn’t condone violence, he believed Rioli was trying to “defuse” the matter and were acting as “anyone in that situation” would.
“It obviously wasn‘t ideal. I can understand the fixation on our players, but from our point of view, a player’s partner was put in an inappropriate situation that she didn’t feel comfortable with,” he told Fox Footy.
“And Daniel stood up and tried to eradicate the situation, and was punched in the eye. I don’t condone violence but the reality is, put anyone in that situation, they’re gonna stand up for their partner and their mates.
“We‘ve spoken to the players at length - we’ve gone through a thorough process. Not myself, but Tim Livingstone and Blair Hartley do a great job of that, and so we’ve got to the bottom of it.
“The evidence we’ve got, the story we have, from our point of view we back in the players. We’re disappointing it came to that situation, we don’t condone violence, but we understand these situations happen from time to time - though it doesn’t make it right.”
The Tigers pair aren’t expected to be punished after informing the club of the incident on Sunday.
Bolton went in for surgery on Monday evening and will miss between two and four weeks, while Rioli will be available to play after needing stitches on a cut under his eye.
“A player‘s partner felt uncomfortable, and was inappropriately spoken to, and Daniel took an evasive action to defuse the situation. And he gets punched in the face,” Hardwick told Fox Footy.
“That’s the situation we find ourselves in. Once again, we don’t condone violence, but we challenge anyone in that situation - there’s a lot of people who’d react the same (way).”
The triple premiership coach believes the situation was a “reminder” to players that they must be extra careful when going out because of their public profiles.
“That‘s the problem. The media will become fixated on the outcome, but the situation is the players are entitled to live a life,” Hardwick said.
“The fact of the matter is, they’re different. They’ve got to sort of, they’re really in a bubble in a way, they’ve got to be careful with where they go. And once again it’s another reminder that these situations can occur when they go out.”
https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-2021-richmond-tigers-shai-bolton-daniel-rioli-nightclub-fight-broken-wrist-video-incident-latest-news/news-story/4b6f420ccc499d663ed4d3f727797e1e?recommendedCount=0
