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This was published 7 years ago
Dispute between two Geelong players clouds Mitch Clark's AFL future
By Caroline Wilson and Sam McClure
An internal player dispute at Geelong could further cloud Mitch Clark's future at the club.
It has emerged that the troubled forward fell out with teammate and club leader Mitch Duncan following a sledging incident at a VFL game.
Clark is understood to have directed the sledge to senior-listed Hawk Teia Miles during a match against Box Hill Hawks. He allegedly disparaged Miles' sister, who is the long-term partner of Clark's Cats teammate Duncan.
The on-field sledge occurred at Simonds Stadium three weeks ago and resulted in a confrontation between Clark and Miles. Duncan, a member of Geelong's leadership group, became aware of the comments later.
Geelong players Mitch Clark and Mitch Duncan.
Fairfax Media understands Clark directed the highly offensive insult to Miles on more than one occasion during the game on June 19.
Clark has indicated to the Cats that he was provoked by Miles and that he believed the matter had been settled.
Fairfax Media understands Duncan's partner has been an innocent party in the controversy and in no way fuelled the sledge. It is believed Duncan later accepted Clark's apology.
The incident has been kept under wraps at Geelong with senior officials unaware of what took place until Monday when contacted by Fairfax.
Geelong players Mitch Clark and Mitch Duncan (right) at the golf in 2014.Credit: Getty Images
Officials are understood to have confronted Clark about the incident after training on Monday and that a subsequent investigation saw them satisfied that the two players had dealt with the issue internally. It is understood that while some lingering concern remains among the Geelong hierarchy regarding the sledge itself, the Cats were satisfied the matter between the two players had been closed.
Clark, 28, who comes out of contract at the end of 2016, played in the senior side for the first time this season on Friday night. He has battled injury since joining the Cats.
He also suffers from mental health issues. He quit Melbourne midway through his contract in 2013 and returned to his home state of Western Australia, with a view to retiring from the game.
The disappointing round 16 loss to Sydney saw players call a private team meeting after the game in which a number of issues were thrashed out, although not the Clark-Duncan matter with both players privately insisting they were keen to move on.
Miles is the son of former Geelong, Collingwood and West Coast player Geoff Miles, who played a total of 122 games between 1982 and 1992. Miles was also the president of the Barwon Heads Football Club until the end of 2007.
Both Hawthorn and Box Hill are aware of the incident but have chosen not to follow it up, believing it is a matter for Geelong to handle.
It's not the first time Clark has been caught up in sledging allegations against Hawthorn.
Early last year, he mentioned an incident to his football boss Steve Hocking claiming a Hawthorn player made inappropriate on-field comments about his mental health condition.
The sledge was investigated by both clubs and the AFL Players Association but remained unsubstantiated.
Clark later told friends he was severely embarrassed by the manner in which the incident unfolded.
The latest Clark controversy comes in a year in which the AFL has launched its National Women's League and joined forces with the Our Watch campaign combating violence against women and children.
The unofficial rules of engagements relating to on field sledging have already undergone a significant shift.
It is almost two decades since the AFL first took a stand against racial and religious vilification on the field.
More recent incidents degrading women and children, two of which involved Western Bulldogs ruckman Will Minson, prompted AFL investigations.
In 2008 Minson made a comment to Port Adelaide star Kane Cornes about his sick one-year-old son and in 2012 Minson antagonised then Port player Danyle Pearce with derogatory comments about Pearce's mother.
Those incidents prompted South Australian football legend – and Kane's father – Graham Cornes to say: "Leave the kids and women alone."