Richmond Furious As Newspaper 'bullies' Injured Player Polak Into Interview

The Age

Friday August 22, 2008

Ben Doherty

INJURED Richmond footballer Graham Polak - still recovering from being hit by a tram in June and unlikely to play football again - is caught in the middle of an angry stand-off between his club and a Melbourne newspaper.

Richmond is furious at what it has described as the "gutter journalism" of the Sunday Herald Sun, which sent a reporter to Polak's house on Wednesday and "bullied" him into an interview.

The club threatened to hold a press conference with Polak today to scupper the paper's exclusive, but that was withdrawn on doctors' advice that Polak was not ready to participate in interviews.

On Wednesday, Richmond claims, Sunday Herald Sun reporter Stephen Drill arrived unannounced at Polak's house, asking for an interview.

After being refused, Drill left but returned several hours later with a photographer dressed in Richmond club clothing.

The club says Polak "felt extremely pressured, confused and uncomfortable" and agreed to an interview under duress.

He was said to be upset and stressed and has told club officials he was confused and remembers nothing of what he said.

Despite making good progress, Polak has not returned to full brain function after being struck by a tram on Dandenong Road on June 28.

Richmond has demanded that the Sunday Herald Sun pull the story, and club officials, Polak's manager Paul Connors and Polak are meeting newspaper representatives today. "We just hope that common sense prevails and they don't run the story," Connors said last night.

The club has also threatened to boycott the paper.

There could also be a broader boycott of the newspaper by Richmond players, players in Connor's management stable, which includes stars Chris Judd and Jimmy Bartel, or even AFL players generally.

Last night chief executive of the AFL Players Association Brendon Gale said on The Footy Show it was his understanding that Polak had "no recollection of the discussions or the interview".

Gale told The Age earlier in the day media organisations had been told Polak could not give interviews, and that Melbourne's "football media" deserved credit for respecting that.

"But here, we're talking about repeated intrusions, we're talking about arriving unannounced at his home," he said.

"We're not talking about a bloke who's broken a law or failed to meet community standards. We're talking about a bloke with a serious brain injury, a bloke that is extremely vulnerable, and a bloke whose representatives have told the media ad infinitum that he's not in a position to be conducting interviews."

Richmond said Drill was told that Polak was unable to grant interviews. Neither Sunday Herald Sun editor Simon Pristel nor Stephen Drill returned calls from The Age yesterday.

However, last night Pristel released a statement rejecting outright Richmond's claim of the pressure placed on Polak.

"We reject outright any claim Graham was pressured to do the interview. The reporter simply asked the question and he warmly welcomed us into his home," the statement read.

© 2008 The Age

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