Outspoken AFL star Mitch Brown has linked a comment made by the Gold Coast Suns coach, Damian Hardwick to serious issues in Australia.
Hardwick was responding to a question around a melee that occurred during the Suns’ 104-98 loss against Collingwood.
The game was a fractious affair, and things came to a head when Brayden Maynard ran in to try to get to Ben Long but made contact with an umpire.
In all, 21 players were charged with melee involvement and can all accept $1,000 fines.
After the game Hardwick was questioned over the incident in the post-game press conference where he said, ‘oh, just a melee it’s hard to see isn’t it, players everywhere.
‘So it is what it is. You know the game’s a pretty important game for both sides, physical game so at the end of the day, boys will be boys.’
Mitch Brown has tied Damian Hardwick’s ‘boys will be boys’ comment after the Gold Coast melee with Collingwood to violence against women and children
Brayden Maynard and Ben Long were involved in a number of incidents in Gold Coast’s loss against Collingwood that resulted in a melee between the two sides
And it was the final statement of ‘boys will be boys’ that former West Coast star Brown took issue with.
‘So ah, yes the old boys will be boys comment’ he said in a video on his Instagram.
‘Excusatory language for male behaviour, I think it’s you know, you may call it really small and unintentional but this type of stuff is harmful.
‘Um, we got men killing women and children on a weekly basis here in Australia, and this is a f*****g issue.
‘And casual language like this from our leaders, I think we need to expect more.’
He also captioned the post ‘I have been in my fair share of sporting melees, but in a world where rates of men’s violence are only increasing, this kind of excusing language and approach isn’t good enough.’
And Brown was backed up by his followers with a number of comments thanking him for opening the conversation.
‘Thank you for facilitating the conversations,’ one user under the account emms_sandiland wrote.
Another spoke about their experience in the stands around the melee, ‘I was at the game last night, watching a a group of six little boys in front of me aged 5-12yo cheer on the fight so excitedly. ‘
“Punch him!’” “Fight!” “This is the best!” Whilst their parents did the same in the background.
‘I almost burst into tears… How do we shift this culture for men without the conversation starting here.’
Another commented, ‘Totally agree, it was crazy to watch that.
‘Maynard was so angry it took four of his teammates to hold him back. He looked so scary.’
According to reports from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare from 2024-25, a woman was killed every 11 days.
