Former AFL player Ryan Crowley has been nominated for The Frownlow Medal Hall of Fame after being accused of domestic violence offences.
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 men’s and women’s 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 NRL star Ezra Mam 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.
Crowley has been charged with multiple violent offences including assault and deprivation of liberty.
The former Fremantle and Essendon player allegedly choked and threatened his ex-partner Lauren Dunn in the western Perth suburb of Claremont and is facing nine charges including impeding the woman’s breathing by applying pressure to her neck, making threats, unlawfully using a computer and deprivation of liberty in circumstances of aggravation.
Dunn is known to Australians after appearing on the reality TV show Married at First Sight and reportedly called the police on Crowley after he allegedly refused to leave her apartment.
Crowley allegedly took Dunn’s phone and laptop and became enraged when he discovered an email between Dunn and another man. He is also accused of throwing the 34-year-old to the floor, shaking her, slamming her head on the ground multiple times and smothering her with a pillow, forcing her to lose consciousness.
At one stage the court was told Dunn cried out for help before she was assaulted again.
Crowley allegedly stayed the night at Dunn’s apartment and prevented her from leaving the following morning, before she was finally able to escape and called for help.
Crowley, the Dockers’ player of the year in 2012, was later arrested at Perth Train Station and hit with nine domestic violence charges.
Photos of Dunn’s injuries convinced the police prosecutor to tell the court the alleged offending was “too serious for bail”.
Strengthening Crowley’s case for induction into the hall of fame is the drug suspension he served in 2015. The previous year he tested positive to a “specified” substance which turned out to be a painkiller which had not been prescribed by a Fremantle doctor.
Image: NuNa
The Frownlow Medal 