Brian Lake has today met with the Hawthorn Leadership group and apologised for his poor conduct and unprofessionalism on Saturday night.

In addition to the fine issued by police and taking into consideration Brian’s remorse, the group has determined that Brian participate in the Club’s Monash Youth Personal Safety Program (commonly known as Police in Schools), which is coordinated by Monash Police in association with Hawthorn’s Community department.

Through the program, Brian will be involved in a number of parent/student information sessions at local high schools throughout the year. He will be required to address the group and deliver messages about healthy lifestyle choices, positive friendships, responsible drinking, driving and ‘looking after our friends’ who have been drinking.

He will also assist the department in coordinating other players’ involvement in the sessions.

“I’d like to apologise to everyone involved at the Hawthorn Football Club; supporters, players and coaches, for my behaviour on the weekend,” Lake said.  

“I’ve been at this Club now for three months and I’ve put my best foot forward in terms of my training and rehabilitation from injury, and I’ve worked hard to gain the respect of the players and coaches and everyone at the football Club, and I see this as a reasonable step back.”

“But what I’m looking forward to now is getting back to what I was doing in those previous three months and gaining the respect again from the players and everyone at the football Club,” he said.

Head of Coaching and Development Chris Fagan admitted the Club is disappointed in Lake’s conduct.

“We’re very disappointed with what happened; we don’t expect our players to be in situations like that. We expect this to be a once off with Brian and we think he’s learnt his lesson,” Fagan said.  

“His performance since he’s been at the Club in terms of the way he’s trained and prepared has been exemplary, and up until this weekend, we’ve had no reason to question him.”

“He’s got a bit of respect to earn back from the rest of the group now, which I’m sure he’ll do.

“We’re confident Brian can apply what he has learnt from this experience to positively influence the attitudes of such young and impressionable high school students involved in the program,” he said.