Western Bulldogs have suspended Lachie Hunter for four AFL games and fined him $5000 over his alleged drink-driving incident, while he has stepped down from the club’s vice-captaincy and leadership group.
Hunter, 25, allegedly crashed into four parked cars in Middle Park at about 8.45pm on Thursday.
Fellow Bulldog Bailey Smith – whose girlfriend’s family owned two of the damaged vehicles – then drove Hunter to teammate Billy Gowers’ apartment in South Yarra, where police located him.
Hunter recorded a blood alcohol reading of 0.123 and will be charged on summons with drink driving and other traffic matters.
He and Smith received fines from police for breaching COVID-19 restrictions, while Gowers was given a warning.
“The club is extremely disappointed by a number of elements of Lachie’s conduct both in his choice to drink alcohol, choice to drink and drive, choice to ignore social distancing laws and a series of other choices he made in the aftermath of the crash,” Bulldogs chief executive Ameet Bains said in a statement.
“We are extremely disappointed that, when the accident occurred, he did not choose to avail himself of the support and advice services the club provides to our players for just such situations and we believe a number of his subsequent poor choices flowed directly from that error.
“While there are clearly pressures that many people face given the current circumstances, including Lachie, that is no excuse for his behaviour. Lachie’s behaviour put himself and others at risk and is not acceptable.”
Hunter also received suspended fines from the Bulldogs totalling a further $15,000 for “multiple other breaches” while he will have to undertake mandatory alcohol education and counselling and a form of community service.
He will also pay for the damages he caused to the vehicles.
“I’d like to express my deepest apologies and regret for my actions last Thursday night,” Hunter said in a video statement.
“I’m here to take full responsibility for what I did and the damages that I caused.
“It’s never responsible to get behind the wheel after you’ve had a drink and drink-driving’s clearly not acceptable and (it was) a real scare for what could have been with some drink-driving victims and some stories there.
“I let down a lot of people here – my fiancee and my family first, the leadership group in the club, my teammates, Billy and Bailey for dragging them into a situation that they should have never been in and the wider community – who are going through a really hard time with the COVID-19.
“Clearly I should have been at home … (Also) the people who own the vehicles and not only the damage that it caused but the stress that it would have put on them that night.”
The Bulldogs also handed Gowers a suspended $5000 fine for his conduct, which Bains said fell short of club expectations and the AFL player code of conduct.
Smith did not receive any sanction from the club.