Maverick Weller joins Joel Wilkinson and Jacob Gillbee in earning a nomination for The Frownlow Medal Hall of Fame due to a drunken incident in Thailand.
The three AFL players were handcuffed and detained by Thai police in Koh Phangan after allegedly becoming involved in a fight with an off-duty police officer outside a bar at the popular party spot, during an end of season trip in 2011.
The Frownlow Medal is awarded to the player whose off-field demeanour epitomises the values of the modern day footballer and draws attention to the status of footballers as role models to young Australians. It covers Australia’s four major football codes; the National Rugby League (NRL), Australian Football League (AFL), the A-League (Football) and Rugby Union’s Super Rugby competition. NRL player Shaun Kenny-Dowall won the inaugural medal in 2015, while code-swapper Karmichael Hunt is the most recent recipient.
The Frownlow Medal Hall of Fame honours former players and players who received media attention in previous seasons, for similarly scandalous behaviour, and its inductees include Ben Cousins and Julian O’Neill.
The trio, along with teammate and former Frownlow nominee Campbell Brown, were later released without charge. Gillbee, however, holds a stronger claim to earning a place in the prestigious hall of fame as he was also charged with drink driving in 2013.
Being alleged of involvement in a bar brawl in Thailand is actually the same charge that saw NRL players Dylan Walker and Aaron Gray nominated for Frownlow honours. There is no evidence, nor allegation, that the AFL and NRL players were arrested due to any sort of international inter-code rivalry.
Image:NuNa
The Frownlow Medal 