{"id":583205,"date":"2026-04-03T16:31:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T16:31:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/583205\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T16:31:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T16:31:14","slug":"melbourne-demons-apologise-for-meeting-between-senior-figures-and-players-partners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/583205\/","title":{"rendered":"Melbourne Demons apologise for meeting between senior figures and players\u2019 partners"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"JonSave<\/p>\n

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n

Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n

Save this article for later<\/p>\n

Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime.<\/p>\n

Got it<\/p>\n

AAA<\/p>\n

The Melbourne Football Club has apologised for a pre-season meeting between senior club figures and players\u2019 partners that allegedly disclosed private information about former star Steven May.<\/p>\n

Club chief executive Paul Guerra, coach Steven King, and football department boss Alan Richardson held a Teams meeting with about 15 partners of the players in February.<\/p>\n

It was held as a way for Guerra and King, new in their roles, and Richardson to introduce themselves, while also addressing \u201ca matter that impacts the football program\u201d, SEN reported on Friday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"UnderUnder the pump: Melbourne\u2019s GM of football performance Alan Richardson is at the centre of a meeting between the Demons and players\u2019 partners.AFL Photos<\/p>\n

However, according to SEN, a whistleblower who was on the call claimed confidentiality obligations were breached regarding Steven May and his partner Sachi Dade\u2019s relationship, and personal situation. It\u2019s also alleged inappropriate information was shared on the 20-minute meeting.<\/p>\n

May was on personal leave from the club at the time, and police had conducted a welfare check at a private residence on January 29.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Luke<\/a><\/p>\n

No charges were laid, and the matter is now closed. The premiership defender and the Demons officially split last month when May retired<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a club statement sent to this masthead on Friday, the Demons admitted the meeting took place.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe meeting sought to provide reassurance of the club\u2019s commitment to supporting the families as well as the playing group,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhilst it was not our intent, we acknowledge the meeting has caused distress and for that the club is sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n

SEN reported that Richardson, the veteran football department figure and a former St Kilda coach, had outlined to the wives and girlfriends what the meeting was about.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis catch-up was on the back of a conversation with some leaders in the wake of what\u2019s happened with Maysie,\u201d Richardson allegedly said, according to SEN.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey thought it would be good to catch up. What we do know is last Thursday the police were called to the family home.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a combination of a welfare check because Sachi was concerned a bit about Steve, because he\u2019s had some challenges. But clearly there\u2019d been some challenges between Steve and Sachi. That\u2019s pretty clear.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of work to be done. Steven has agreed to do some personal growth work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Concerns were raised to the club after what was said to be an \u201cintroductory\u201d meeting quickly became personal, with suggestions that May was guilty of an offence without any evidence being presented. There was no welfare officer on the hook-up.<\/p>\n

\"InIn the spotlight: New Demons chief executive Paul Guerra.Luis Enrique Ascui<\/p>\n

The AFL Players\u2019 Association referred the matter to the AFL. The AFLPA did not wish to comment on Friday but is aware of the issue and referred it to the AFL. This masthead also reached out to Richardson, and he referred back to the club\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n

The AFL has asked Melbourne to investigate, but league office has maintained a close eye on the matter. The AFL was contacted for comment.<\/p>\n

Richardson also allegedly said in the meeting: \u201cCan we all just make sure we keep this information to ourselves?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason that this is a little bit unusual, I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever done this before, we\u2019ve had issues with Clayton [Oliver] and the like, is that this is involving a partner.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guerra, according to SEN, said: \u201cThis [the May situation] will not be swept under the carpet.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to understand that our objective is that we have people living to the standards we want that work and operate inside the Melbourne Football Club \u2026 that\u2019s everybody. If they can\u2019t, then we will have conversations with them about what that may look like for them going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

King, a rookie senior coach, allegedly said: \u201cI want our football club to be a welcoming place where everyone can come. Character is, obviously, a massive part of my values and what I look for in footballers and people as well \u2026 it\u2019s really important we address with you tonight the Maysie stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keep up to date with the best AFL coverage in the country. Sign up for the Real Footy newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Save<\/p>\n

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n

Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n

\"JonJon Pierik<\/a> is a sports journalist at The Age. He covers AFL and has won awards for his cricket and basketball writing.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":583206,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-583205","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583205","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=583205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583205\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/583206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=583205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=583205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=583205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}