Richmond investigate as Mad Monday video gives AFL new headache

Richmond are investigating the conduct of their players after vision emerged from the club’s Mad Monday celebrations potentially appearing to mock the scandal engulfing the Sydney Swans.

Competition sources have confirmed to this masthead that the Tigers are examining footage taken at the Garfield Hotel in Gippsland on Monday, which shows several Richmond players drinking and striking one another with belts.

Five Sydney players – Isaac Heeney, Chad Warner, Nick Blakey, Riley Bice and James Jordon – have been suspended for breaching club standards , and a separate police investigation into an allegation of sexual assault at the hotel continues.

No charges have been laid and this masthead is not suggesting any wrongdoing on the part of the five suspended players.

In one piece of vision of the Tigers, young midfielder Josh Smillie appears to pull down his pants and feign shock as he is repeatedly struck on the backside by a teammate.

He appears to be spanked three times in the video and then after a fourth slap, reacts differently – which is possibly a recreation of allegations published by the Herald Sun , that one woman had claimed she was slapped on the buttocks four times instead of the three slaps that had been agreed.

Another clip shows midfielder Tim Taranto using a belt to strike a shirtless teammate.

The footage emerged just a week after five Sydney players were suspended for the remainder of the season for breaches of club standards following an incident at the team’s Melbourne hotel.

Victoria Police continues to investigate an allegation of sexual assault arising from that night. No charges have been laid and there is no suggestion of wrongdoing by the five suspended Sydney players.

A statement was released on the hotel’s social media accounts on Monday, defending the players.

“We hosted the Richmond Football Club at our venue today, and we could not speak more highly of the way they conducted themselves. For such a young group, they were extremely respectful and a fun group of boys to deal with,” the statement read.

“They enjoyed a few quiet beers to unwind after a long season, and we see nothing wrong with that. They had booked out the venue for the afternoon, so they were the only patrons on site. They enjoyed their afternoon and moved on.

“In our view, this has been blown out of proportion. Two members of the media were waiting on their arrival this morning and remained on site filming in the hope of capturing a misstep, which we consider disappointing.”

Also on Monday, AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon delivered a strongly worded statement at the league’s finals launch.