Tigers fiasco could be final nail in the coffin of Mad Monday

Melbourne captain Max Gawn says footy players should be able to celebrate the end of a long season, but admits the traditional Mad Monday might be finished.

His comments came hours after Richmond players were criticised for behaviour during a drinking session at a pub east of Melbourne.

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In a video aired on Seven, a number of Tigers players could be seen shirtless, and whipping and slapping each other on the buttocks.

It’s been suggested they were mimicking what allegedly happened inside a Melbourne hotel room last week that is now the centre of a police investigation. Nine.com.au has contacted the Tigers for comment.

The Garfield Hotel, where the players were drinking, has since issued a statement denying there were any issues or bad behaviour.

But it has once again raised the question for professional sporting clubs about how best to celebrate the end of a season.

The Mad Monday moniker increasingly has negative connotations attached to it, with expectations of heavy drinking and loutish behaviour.

Geelong’s Mad Mondays were once legendary, but last year the Cats were forced to call an end to the tradition after backlash to several social media posts, most of them by controversial recruit Bailey Smith.

With every person now having ready access to a camera, and videos and photos able to be uploaded to the internet with the click of a button, clubs are becoming more paranoid about bad publicity or scandal.

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“Is there still room in football for a Mad Monday?” St Kilda icon Nick Riewoldt asked on Triple M’s Mick in the Morning.

“Richmond are on the front page of the paper.”

Gawn says the Tigers players could not have done much more to avoid media attention, and believes there is nothing wrong with a post-season drink.

“There is (room for it), but the word ‘Mad Monday’ gets thrown around by the media. It’s not ‘mad’, it’s just a couple of drinks post-season,” Gawn said.

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“There’s two parts to this. Richmond have done a lot of good things; they’ve gone an hour away (from Melbourne), they haven’t dressed up, they’re having a drink.

“But the second part is that as an industry, we have a lot of people telling us that stuff is going on within our four walls. It’s our time to start listening.

“Is this one of these cases? I’m not sure. But it’s a great chance for us to reflect on lots of people giving the AFL feedback on culture. It’s another thing to listen to, so we should.”

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The AFL is on edge following sexual assault allegations filed with Victoria Police last week.

Swans vice captain Isaac Heeney is the focus of their investigation, although no charges have been laid and nine.com.au is not suggesting any criminal wrongdoing.

The Swans last week stood down five players – Heeney, Chad Warner, Nick Blakey, James Jordon, and Riley Bice – for breaching club standards. The punishment is separate to the police investigation.

The Tigers won just three games this season and only missed the wooden spoon thanks to Essendon’s historically poor campaign.

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