{"id":891627,"date":"2026-09-14T11:28:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T11:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/891627\/"},"modified":"2026-09-14T11:28:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T11:28:12","slug":"afl-news-2026-hawthorns-jai-newcombe-commends-adelaide-crows-captain-jordan-dawson-for-exposing-disgusting-instagram-message","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/891627\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL news 2026: Hawthorn\u2019s Jai Newcombe commends Adelaide Crows captain Jordan Dawson for exposing \u2018disgusting\u2019 Instagram message"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hawthon<\/a> midfielder Jai Newcombe has admitted social media abuse aimed at AFL<\/a> players can be \u201ctoxic\u201d and \u201cugly\u201d as he commended Adelaide<\/a> captain Jordan Dawson<\/a> for exposing \u201cdisgusting and disturbing\u201d behaviour<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dawson called out on Sunday night a shocking message he received on Instagram, which prompted the Crows to report the attack to South Australian Police and the AFL integrity unit.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Adelaide captain Jordan Dawson.\u00a0Michael Willson\/AFL Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Nine.com.au has decided not to publish the message or convey what it suggested.<\/p>\n

Speaking to media ahead of Saturday\u2019s preliminary final between Hawthorn and Brisbane<\/a> at the MCG, Newcombe was asked about his experience on social media as an AFL player.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can be pretty toxic and pretty ugly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot out there that doesn\u2019t get shown.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s important what Jordan\u2019s done.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a similar [experience] with Mabior [Chol] earlier in the year, and actually calling that stuff out.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty ugly. It\u2019s disrespectful.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so many things we shouldn\u2019t have to deal with … but I would say that\u2019s almost just the tip of the iceberg.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a hell of a lot that goes on pretty frequently that players have to deal with and talk to the people they need to, but there\u2019s too much of it going on, I would say.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dawson, 29, endured personal heartbreak this season, following the death of his brother Jaryd in April<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Despite the tragedy, the Crows skipper produced such an impressive season that he made the All-Australian side and was named vice-captain<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hawthorn midfielder Jai Newcombe boots a goal against Collingwood in round 23.\u00a0Michael Willson\/AFL Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The Crows skipper also claimed the AFL Players Association\u2019s Most Courageous Player award.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s so many more [abusive posts] than what we actually see,\u201d Newcombe said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a bit of a tricky one, but acting on something when players are comfortable enough to put themselves on the line and actually show what\u2019s being said, and making sure they\u2019re getting the support they need … is pretty important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adelaide chief executive Tim Silvers slammed the message sent to Dawson as \u201cdisgusting and disturbing\u201d.<\/p>\n

If you or anyone you know needs immediate support, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or via lifeline.org.au<\/a>. In an emergency, call 000<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hawthon midfielder Jai Newcombe has admitted social media abuse aimed at AFL players can be \u201ctoxic\u201d and \u201cugly\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":891628,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-891627","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\/891627","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=891627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891627\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/891628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=891627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=891627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=891627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}