{"id":431039,"date":"2026-01-23T00:00:35","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T00:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/431039\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T00:00:35","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T00:00:35","slug":"afl-stars-deny-being-present-at-brawl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/431039\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL stars deny being present at brawl"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two AFL premiership stars have denied being \u201dphysically present\u201d at an alleged Sorrento Boxing Day brawl, a court has been told.<\/p>\n

Richmond midfielder Dion Prestia and Melbourne defender Steven May appeared at the Dromana Magistrates Court on Thursday.<\/p>\n

The pair were represented by lawyer Tony Hargreaves, who requested the matter be adjourned in order to give the prosecution time to consider submissions he\u2019d made.<\/p>\n

Mr Hargreaves said he had sent detailed written submissions to police about \u201cwhy charges should be withdrawn\u201d and was told they needed some time.<\/p>\n

He said neither Mr Prestia nor Mr May \u201cwere physically present or physically involved (in alleged incident)\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Melbourne<\/p>\n

Steven May is a key defender for the Melbourne Demons. Picture: Michael Klein<\/p>\n

\"Richmond<\/p>\n

Dion Prestia is a three-time premiership player for Richmond. Picture: Jake Nowakowski<\/p>\n

Prosecutor Alex Turner supported Mr Hargreaves request to adjourn the matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll come to be in a position either way, whether proceeding or withdrawing, by the 20th of February,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The presiding magistrate accepted Mr Hargreaves\u2019 request and adjourned the matter until February 20.<\/p>\n

Police allege two groups of men were involved in an altercation about 2am on Point Nepean Rd, Sorrento on December 27, 2024.<\/p>\n

Two men were taken to hospital with non life-threatening injuries.<\/p>\n

Police said they interviewed three men in May, 2025 as part of their investigation.<\/p>\n

Mr Prestia was charged on summons with recklessly causing serious injury and Mr May was charged on summons with affray, the Herald Sun reported in October.<\/p>\n

Both men continue to maintain their innocence.<\/p>\n

\"RICHMOND<\/p>\n

The men will appear in court again next month. Picture: Mark Stewart<\/p>\n

In a statement issued by Richmond last year, Mr Prestia said:<\/p>\n

\u201cI have today been charged with the offence of recklessly causing serious injury as a result of an altercation that apparently took place on Boxing Day 2024 at Sorrento.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was not involved in the fight. I was not even physically present when it apparently took place.<\/p>\n

\u201cI deny that I am guilty of these offences and will strenuously defend these charges.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Demon\u2019s Mr May has not commented publicly, however a statement from the club said they will \u201ccontinue to support Steven through this process\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cSteven has advised the club that he was not involved in the alleged incident and will strongly defend the charge in court,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

\"Melbourne<\/p>\n

Steven May at Melbourne AFL training. Picture: Andrew Henshaw<\/p>\n

Both men appeared before the court on Thursday via video link.<\/p>\n

Mr May is a two-time All-Australian, a premiership player, and previously served as co-captain of the Gold Coast Suns.<\/p>\n

The Tiger\u2019s Mr Prestia has won three premierships and was named part of the all-Australian Squad in 2019.<\/p>\n

The men will appear at Frankston Magistrates Court February 20.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two AFL premiership stars have denied being \u201dphysically present\u201d at an alleged Sorrento Boxing Day brawl, a court…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":431040,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,100245,64,63,55,639,17988,148065,7804,225696,8016,225698,85,8018,225697,148268],"class_list":["post-431039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-afl-premiership","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-dion-prestia","tag-dromana-magistrates-court","tag-melbourne-demons","tag-mr-hargreaves","tag-premiership-player","tag-sorrento","tag-sports","tag-steven-may","tag-tony-hargreaves","tag-written-submissions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/431040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}