The biggest controversies in AFL history
The biggest controversies in AFL history
From Ben Cousins' tragic fall from grace, to Essendon's supplements saga to the shameful end to Adam Goodes' career, here are some of the AFL's biggest controversies ever.
2011 - Lyon joins Fremantle
Ross Lyon transformed St Kilda from an up and coming young team to a bona-fide contender when he took over from Grant Thomas at the end of 2006.
The Saints made three grand finals under Lyon, coming excruciatingly close to winning its first premiership since 1966 in a drawn decider in 2010.
However, just 12 months later, Lyon stunned the AFL world by walking out on the Saints and immediately signing with Fremantle, despite both he and Dockers incumbent, Mark Harvey, having deals for the 2012 season with their respective clubs.
It was revealed that Lyon had exercised a get-out clause to make the move happen.
In a further wrinkle, Lyon and Harvey were both managed by the same company, Elite Sport Properties, and it was revealed Lyon had carried out negotiations with Fremantle without his management's knowledge.
While Lyon was involved in clandestine meetings with the Dockers, his management had been talking with St Kilda about a potential extension.
Lyon would end up coaching in Fremantle for eight seasons before being sacked at the end of 2019. He led the Dockers to their only grand final appearance in the club's history in 2013.
2021 - Taylor Walker's racism suspension
Adelaide star Taylor Walker's career was thrown into serious doubt after he was found to have made a racist comment during a SANFL match.
The target of Walker's racist words was indigenous North Adelaide player Robbie Young.
Walker's comment was reported by an Adelaide Crows official before it was investigated by the AFL Integrity Unit.
Following the investigation, Walker was handed a six-match suspension by the league and was also forced to make a $20,000 donation to an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander program in SA.
"There is no excuse or justification for the words I said," Walker said in a statement released by the AFL.
"They are unacceptable and I take full accountability for that. I am deeply ashamed.
"Today's process has led to a deeper understanding of the hurt that I have caused, and I am embarrassed, ashamed and remorseful."
2018 - 'Bomber' charged with drug offences
Mark Thompson was a man who was seemingly followed by success wherever he went, whether as a coach or a player.
Affably known as 'Bomber', Thompson made his name as a rugged defender who played in three premierships, including one as captain in 1993.
After his retirement at the end of 1996, Thompson turned to coaching and won the Geelong job in 2000, where he led the club to premierships in 2007 and 2009.
Thompson left the game at the end of 2014 after a stint at Essendon during the height of the supplements saga and trouble followed him after his coaching career ended.
In 2018 Thompson found himself in hot water when he was charged with seven counts of drug trafficking and possession.
Police found ecstasy, methyl amphetamine, LSD, ephedrine and multiple Xanax tablets after executing a warrant at his Port Melbourne home.
Thompson was later cleared of drug trafficking charges but was fined $3000 for drug possession.
2000 - Ablett superfan dies in legend's hotel room
It's the incident which AFL icon Gary Ablett Sr says he "still grieves to this day" about.
It was February 2000, three years after Ablett's retirement, when Alicia Horan died at just 20 years of age in his hotel room following a drug-fuelled bender.
Horan, who was a massive fan of Ablett's, consumed a lethal combination of heroin, ecstasy and amphetamine.
Coroner Noreen Tooheey in 2001 stated that Ms Horan had "become enmeshed in a culture of alcoholism and drug taking with her football hero" and had been "partying out of her league".
Ablett wasn't charged with manslaughter, but was hit with four drug offences, to which he pleaded guilty, and was convicted and fined $1500.
2018 - Cyril Rioli falls out with Hawthorn
Cyril Rioli shocked the AFL world when he announced his retirement from the game midway through the 2018 season.
At just 28 years of age, Rioli was well and truly in his peak, having already been named to three All-Australian teams and winning four premierships.
It was later revealed that a falling out with Hawks president Jeff Kennett led to the indigenous star's early exit.
Rioli and his wife Shannyn revealed how the trouble with Kennett stemmed from an incident at the Launceston Airport in 2018 where Kennett allegedly made a comment about Shannyn's ripped designer jeans.
Rioli described the incident as the "final straw" after a series of other events regarding Hawthorn's relationship with its indigenous players.
2013 - Eddie's 'King Kong' shocker
Eddie McGuire found himself at the centre of a firestorm during the 2013 season, when he suggested Adam Goodes should be used to promote the musical King Kong.
McGuire's comments on Triple M radio came just days after he'd made a public show of support for Goodes when the Sydney Swans star was racially abused by a Magpies fan at the MCG.
The on-air gaffe was immediately met with resignation calls for the Collingwood president, who did not budge from his seat after issuing both an on-air apology and an apology at a press conference later on.
"I'm happy to stand here in front of everybody, in front of the country, and say we do not stand for racial vilification. I let myself down because I had a slip of the tongue," he said at the time.
"[But] people don't resign because they make a slip of the tongue. It's as simple as that."
McGuire eventually resigned from his post in 2020.
1996 - The death of Fitzroy
After talk of a merger for a decade prior, Fitzroy's time in the AFL came to a close at the end of the 1996 season.
A dreadful season saw the club finish dead last on the ladder after winning just one of its 22 games, before it merged with the Brisbane Bears to form the Brisbane Lions.
Despite surviving near mergers with Footscray and North Melbourne in the preceding seasons, the club required AFL funding to allow it to remain in the competition during the 1996 season.
There were emotional scenes in the club's final match in Melbourne, 151-point loss to Richmond at the MCG, with fans left in tears in the stands as they waved goodbye to the eight-time VFL/AFL premiers.
The merger proved bittersweet when the Brisbane Lions won the first of its three consecutive premierships just five seasons after the move.
While the relationship between Brisbane and Fitzroy has not always been rosy, the Lions' away jersey for Victorian games sports the old Fitzroy colours.
2008 - Pies 'rat pack' caught in blatant lie
As Collingwood forged its way up the ladder at the end of the 2000s, it did so with a number of players infamously known as the 'rat pack' due to their off-field escapades.
Included in the Magpies 'rat pack' was future Brownlow Medallist Dane Swan as well as star duo Alan Didak and Heath Shaw.
At the end of the 2008 season, two members of the 'rat pack', Didak and Shaw found themselves in deep trouble with the club.
Collingwood suspended the star duo in August 2008 after the pair lied about a drink-driving incident.
Shaw was understood to have blown a blood alcohol reading of three times the legal limit when he hit a parked car.
The defender initially denied that Didak had been in the car with him, before witness accounts identified Didak.
As a repeat offender, Didak was slapped with a $5000 fine along with the ban, while Shaw was given a $10,000 fine.
The 'rat pack' would have a happy ending however, with the trio playing pivotal roles in the Magpies' drought-breaking 2010 premiership win.
2012 - Tippett contract saga
As the Gold Coast Suns prepared to enter the AFL in the late 2000s, Queensland native Kurt Tippett was one of the club's main targets.
Tippett had burst onto the scene with the Adelaide Crows, kicking 55 goals in just his second season, and the club was desperate to retain him.
Eventually the talented forward signed a new three-year deal with the Crows, with the deal lifting his salary from around $400,000 up to the $700,000 mark.
Tippett's deal was also believed to have included somewhat of an 'exit' clause in which the Crows would trade him to a club of his choice for a minimum second-round pick.
When the end of 2012 arrived, instead of asking for a trade to the Suns, Tippett instead requested a trade to the newly-minted reigning premiers, Sydney.
It was revealed that Adelaide and Tippett breached AFL rules on his contract, with the forward offered money not included in the salary cap.
The result? Adelaide was fined and lost its first two picks in the 2012 and 2013 drafts. Tippett was fined and handed a 11-game suspension, while the AFL blocked the proposed trade between Adelaide and Sydney.
The Swans eventually picked up Tippett for nothing in the pre-season draft, and he would play 74 games for the club before a premature retirement in 2018 at just 30 years of age.
