Dear Luke,
Melbourne Storm has today continued its independent investigation into the series of events which led to the incident with Manly at Brookvale Oval last Friday night.
The club is committed to a thorough and cooperative process to ensure the appropriate level of due diligence is addressed. The club requests all interested parties to respect this process, along with those of the governing body.
Adam Blair, a current International and New Zealand Vice Captain, who has never been involved in a similar incident in his 100 plus game career for the Melbourne Storm, was contrite today when he issued an apology for his contribution towards the extremely disappointing sideline altercation with Glenn Stewart.
“I would like to apologise to everyone for the incident with Glenn on Friday night,” said Blair.
“I’m extremely disappointed to be involved in such an incident that does not put the game I love in a positive light, especially my family, friends and all rugby league supporters.
“Hindsight is a wonderful thing and if I had my time again I would have done things differently.
“It was a spur of the moment reaction, that was not planned and to be honest it happened that quickly I still don’t really know why it occurred.
“Manly is a very good footy team. We have a healthy respect and good rivalry after many years of good competition and from my point of view that has not changed.
“There is a process to go through and I will be fully cooperative through that process.”
As part of the review process Melbourne Storm CEO Ron Gauci has interviewed the players involved in the incident.
“Melbourne Storm acknowledges the involvement of our interchange players, who came from their bench to help Adam when he was being attacked by several Manly players,” said Gauci.
“Our players respect the rules and regulations that govern our game, including the protocols surrounding the field of play.
“Anyone who has seen the incident from Friday night would agree it was unfortunate and extremely difficult for everyone involved especially Adam’s teammates nearby. Whilst the players accept that entering the altercation was improper, they felt that the need to preserve the safety of their teammate was paramount. The players have assured me that their intention was never to further inflame the situation.”
Melbourne Storm will both continue our internal review and be cooperative with all stakeholders across the game until the completion of the process.
