A lot will come down to those players that were allegedly reluctant to take part in it as they could see he was in distress and exhausted. If they front up, like they should, then the club hasnt a leg to stand on. At that point his claims of over the top treatment become corroborated by third parties and Bulldogs lose. Just because something has happened before (not that we know it has, maybe this was the first time this level a punishment was dished out?), doesn't mean its ok.
Its a fine line between pushing players through behavioral punishment to improve and outright abuse. The reality is it isnt the 80's anymore and what was ok in the past isnt ok now, you can argue the rights or wrongs, the woke/snowflake v bullying and abuse argument as much as you want but it doesn't change times have changed.