The ramifications for Richmond’s second COVID-19 breach could go as far as affecting the upcoming Queensland election, according to Robert Craddock.
Richmond pair Sydney Stack and Callum Coleman-Jones were sent home from the club’s hub on the Gold Coast after they were involved in an altercation in the early hours of Friday morning, breaking strict AFL protocols.
Both Stack and Coleman-Jones were banned for 10 matches and the club fined $100,000 for the incident, which is Richmond’s second COVID breach this season.
The Queensland election is set to take place on October 31 and opinion polls predicting a tight battle between Labor Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and LNP opposition leader Deb Frecklington.
Craddock believes Richmond’s blatant indiscretion could put enough Queenslanders to vote against Premier Palaszczuk, who’s strong support of the AFL contributed to the League’s decision to award hosting rights for this year’s Grand Final to the Gabba.
“I’m coming to you from Queensland where the residual is as strong as ever against those Richmond players who were caught outside a strip club (on Friday morning),” he said on SEN’s Whateley.
“I believe that will cost Labor the election, I really do. For every one person who’s saying, ‘Gee the government has done a good job delivering the Grand Final to Queensland’ there’s probably three or four saying, ‘Do you mind, we’re getting pregnant women knocked back at the border and these blokes are having a punch-up outside a strip club because they have a gold pass into Queensland’.
“If you feel Richmond is on the nose up here, especially considering in the week before it there were whispers before it, they were very tardy in their behaviour around the bubble, then you’re right.
“They’re saying there’s going to be one or two seats in the Queensland election … it created absolute outrage up here when those two Richmond players (broke) curfews."
Craddock says he’d heard whispers of more protocol breaches on the Gold Coast, where a number of Victorian clubs are currently staying.
“I heard Richmond CEO Brendon Gale say it’s all about winning … some people are onto it and I know our reporters on the Gold Coast and they were sniffing around a couple of other stories that they couldn’t get up,” he said.
“They believe there were more (breaches) involving other people.”