North Melbourne players Nick Larkey and Cameron Zurhaar did "one of the dumbest things I've ever seen" by having a party amid the coronavirus crisis, Footy Classified host Craig Hutchison said.
The Roos players, both 21, hosted at least 10 people at their Kensington home on Sunday night after playing an AFL game that day.
The shindig flew in the face of toughened social distancing guidelines in the COVID-19 outbreak and risked fatal consequences, Hutchison said.
"On face value, and Nick and Cam are good kids, this is one of the dumbest things I've ever seen," Hutchison said on Monday night's show.
"It's decisions like that, as hard as it is to understand, that can cause a passage of this illness that can get someone killed."
Yet footy columnist Caroline Wilson said that footy games being played on the weekend had sent a misleading message to players and the general public.
"They would say, 'Hang on, we were asked to go out and play football a few hours earlier, against other men, to go into dressing rooms where we didn't know what was going on'," Wilson said.
"It does look stupid but unfortunately … it was well-intended, the AFL's decision [to play round one], but it created a really bad look. You talk about all the people on Bondi Beach, they would have been saying, 'Well hang on, they're playing rugby league, they're playing AFL footy'."
Hutchison agreed: "It normalised things that shouldn't have [happened]."
Wilson continued: "Which is why Gillon McLachlan showed leadership and realised quickly the mistake and they had to change it. The NRL was slow to react.
"But I'm not so critical of the North players, because of that very reason."
A neighbour of Larkey and Zurhaar, Doctor Patricia Ky, told the ABC that one of the players said after she complained about the party: "We all work together so if one of us has it, we all have it … we just played today and this is the last time we might see each other for a while."
Footy Classified news man Damian Barrett said that similar incidents had occurred involving players from other clubs.
North Melbourne issued a statement on the incident, saying that their players had shown remorse.
"Both players have apologised unreservedly for the noise created and have acknowledged their actions were inappropriate given the current climate and social-distancing measures," the club's statement said.
"The players have been encouraged to apologise to their neighbours in person."
from WWOS http://wwos.nine.com.au/afl/coronavirus-covid-19-north-melbourne-party-craig-hutchison/072e9476-9a4f-4a14-8b92-a281c4a76c41
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