Senior journalist Mitch Cleary has been reinstated by AFL Media and spoken publicly for the first time since being stood down for his reporting on Richmond’s COVID protocol breach.
As reported by the Herald Sun on Sunday, Cleary was stood down for naming Brooke Cotchin, wife of Tigers captain Trent, as the person responsible for breaking protocols which resulted in Richmond being fined.
Cotchin post an Instagram story from a spa in Queensland, which is currently against guidelines players, family members and officials are abiding by while staying in interstate hubs.
The AFL confirmed on Monday afternoon that the matter had been resolved internally, with Cleary to return to work.
"Last week, AFL Media made an editorial decision to not name any family members relating to the recent club breaches of the Return to Play protocols," the statement read.
"The reasoning behind this decision was to protect the well-being of all individual’s involved, a message that was reiterated in the official AFL Media Statement on Friday afternoon.
"Mitch mistakenly did not follow his department’s editorial decision and named a family member on his own personal twitter channel on Friday evening.
"Upon speaking to his Editor and then realising his tweet was at odds with AFL Media’s editorial decision, Mitch immediately removed his tweet and has acknowledged it was a mistake on his behalf.
"The matter has now been resolved internally with Mitch today co-hosting the weekly show AFL Exchange on afl.com.au."
Speaking for the first time since the incident, Cleary said it was the wrong call to post the Instagram story to Twitter but thought at the time it was merely adding another angle to the story.
“Clearly I wasn’t aware about the protection of the names we had in place and I concede I should’ve been across that really,” he told the AFL Exchange podcast.
“We made a call as a website not to name the individuals involved and once I was made aware of that and asked to take the post down, I did so.
“The last thing I wanted to do is cause extra angst to the Cotchin family but I just felt at the time that I was adding a layer to something that was already out there.
“The support has been overwhelming really, not only our team at AFL Media who have all been fantastic but also the wider industry. The amount of calls and texts (of support) I’ve received has been great.”
Brooke Cotchin said she didn't agree with the AFL's decision to stand down Cleary and said she had "no input" on making the call.
“I don’t know Mitch Cleary, but I do not agree with him being stood down and I have voiced that to the AFL,” Brooke posted on Instagram.
“It is his job and it does not help anyone’s situation especially in current circumstances. Unfortunately I had no input and it is something that is out of my control.”
The move to stand down one of AFL Media’s most respected journalists was been met with widespread condemnation.