{"id":793807,"date":"2026-07-11T15:49:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T15:49:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/793807\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T15:49:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T15:49:11","slug":"afl-2026-damien-hardwick-fan-altercation-what-happened-video-press-conference-comments-latest-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/793807\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL 2026: Damien Hardwick fan altercation what happened, video, press conference comments, latest news"},"content":{"rendered":"

Damien Hardwick has spoken out after his altercation with an Adelaide Oval patron<\/a> on Saturday night. <\/p>\n

It comes as David King calls for \u201cretribution\u201d for the fan who exchanged words with the Gold Coast coach as he walked down through the crowd at three-quarter-time. <\/p>\n

Watch every match of every round of the AFL Premiership Season LIVE and ad-break free during play on FOX FOOTY, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

WHAT’S GAMBLING REALLY COSTING YOU? Set a deposit limit. For Free and confidential support call 1800 858 858 or visit gamblinghelponline.org.au.<\/p>\n

Walking down the stairs to ground level to address his struggling Suns side, Hardwick stopped in his path to address a vocal Crows supporter. <\/p>\n

A grinning Hardwick appeared to handle himself rationally, but clearly took exception to something uttered to him by the fan. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s not the first time such an issue has arisen this season. <\/p>\n

Chris Scott in June called it an AFL \u201coversight\u201d to have coaches walking amongst supporters<\/a> between quarters at the venue, after he was subject to similar treatment from the partisan Adelaide crowd. <\/p>\n

\u201cHardwick had an altercation with a fan \u2026 came into the huddle and was clearly quite agitated with his players, but this is a separate issue,\u201d First Crack\u2019s Jay Clark said on Super Saturday Live. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe is not happy with what has been said to him. (He) turns, and there\u2019s a bit of a verbal exchange. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a great look. We know Adelaide Oval is a problem. This has been put on the record – Chris Scott has mentioned this. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe coaches have to walk through the crowd, and you\u2019d think that\u2019s something the AFL\u2019s got to address, because we\u2019re seeing more of these incidents.\u201d<\/p>\n

MORE COVERAGE:<\/p>\n

\u2018THAT\u2019S A DISGRACE\u2019: Obvious ump blunder as \u2018classy\u2019 Hawks burst Blues bubble<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2018IRATE\u2019: Blues fire up as AFL umpire problem hits \u2018new low\u2019… and reignites calls for big change<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2018SUSPECTED AT THIS STAGE\u2019: Reveal over star as \u2018sickening\u2019 incident sparks \u2018big story\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Speaking in his post-match press conference, Hardwick said the fans\u2019 close access at Adelaide Oval \u201cisn\u2019t ideal\u201d, as he went on to deliver a whack to the patron in question. <\/p>\n

\u201cI understand people are going to say stuff, and I\u2019ve got to be better,\u201d he began. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut at the end of the day, those sort of people are the guys that live in their mum\u2019s basements and type on bloody social media forums and that sort of stuff. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not playing well, I\u2019ve got to be better, but we\u2019ve got to do something about it. It\u2019s a dangerous position to put us in, first and foremost. <\/p>\n

\u201cSecurity is OK, but we don\u2019t need people being peanuts about it. Get out of the basement, mate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hawks snap Carlton win streak at 7 | 02:31<\/p>\n

A \u201cdisappointed\u201d King said fans like that Crows supporter are \u201cruining\u201d the sport\u2019s unparalleled access for everyone else. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt really angers me that fans feel the need to do that,\u201d he said on Fox Footy. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got the best venues to go and watch football, the crowd can get as close to the players as any other sport \u2026 and I just think they\u2019re ruining it. <\/p>\n

\u201cPeanuts like that, having something to say to the coach that\u2019s clearly derogatory – (because) Damien doesn\u2019t respond to idle chat. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s really disappointing. I hope there\u2019s some retribution for that guy, not Damien.\u201d<\/p>\n

During Fox Footy\u2019s broadcast of the Crows\u2019 79-point win over the Suns, former Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley spoke out against the current Adelaide Oval setup. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just not the right environment for senior coaches to have to walk through that,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou just don\u2019t need to – if something silly happens, AFL \u2026 I mean, c\u2019mon. It\u2019s impossible (to avoid).\u201d<\/p>\n

Mark Ricciuto responded: \u201cThe problem was this was already built when they did the renovation. It was an existing grandstand that was renovated.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Damien Hardwick has spoken out after his altercation with an Adelaide Oval patron on Saturday night. It comes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":793808,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-793807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793807","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=793807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793807\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/793808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=793807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=793807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=793807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}