Adelaide Crows SANFL player Blake Drury and Central District's Aiden Grace serve secret bans after ‘hot mic' incident

7NEWS

2 days ago

A second Adelaide Crows footballer in as many days has been found to have been banned over sexually inappropriate behaviour towards a woman.
Blake Drury, a SANFL-listed player who is hoping for an AFL lifeline in Wednesday night's mid-season draft, was caught in a 'hot mic' moment following a recent promotional shoot.
Drury, 21, was in conversation with Central District vice-captain Aiden Grace, 27, during a break in recording for a shoot to promote the recent representative clash between SANFL and WAFL players.
Two of the state league's most recognisable names, the pair did not realise the camera was rolling when they made sexually explicit remarks about a female SANFL staff member in the room.
It was the victim herself who later discovered the comments, which are too vulgar to report.
Drury and Grace have already served bans that had been kept secret until now.
The SANFL told 7NEWS that both Drury and Grace were punished over what it described it as 'unacceptable conduct'.
'(The league) immediately investigated and addressed the matter, with both players sanctioned,' it said.
The players were mysteriously withdrawn from the SA team that faced WA on May 17, and 7NEWS can now reveal the SANFL quietly hit them with one-game suspensions.
Drury and Grace have since sent written apologies to the woman involved and have received education around respect for woman.
'We were extremely disappointed by the inappropriate comments made by the players and continue to provide support to our staff member impacted,' the SANFL told 7NEWS in a statement.
Adelaide released a statement to 7NEWS on Wednesday night, saying they're extremely disappointed and angered by Drury's actions.
Drury spent two years on North Melbourne's AFL list, playing 10 games across 2023-24, before joining Adelaide's SANFL side for this year.
He nominated for the AFL mid-season draft taking place on Wednesday night.
The new scandal comes just days after it was revealed another Adelaide player sent a photo of a woman without her consent to a former teammate earlier this year.
'It had been addressed. What we addressed was that it's unacceptable, it's not who we are,' Crows AFL coach Matthew Nicks said.
Drury and the unnamed Crows player involved in the earlier incident received bans from the club.