The response to another child predator welcomed back to an AFL club proves a disturbing point. A footy star's three words after sexually abusing a child should make you feel sick. What the club did — like so many others — is a joke.
Rohan Smith @ro_smith 4 min read June 7, 2026 - 11:32AM COMMENT
The ultimate achievement for a suburban footy player isn't always about trophies and premierships. It's also about reaching a certain status. Becoming a club legend. Never paying for a pint again. In Australia, you get to that point because of your actions on the field: chase-down tackles, miraculous goals, pack marks, being the first to join in on a melee. What you do off the field doesn't seem to matter as much — even when the thing you do is sexually assault a child.
On the side of the Princes Highway, 338km southwest of Melbourne, the township of Tyrendarra revolves around AFL football and the Darras. James Williams, who floats between the middle and the forward flank on game days, was as much a part of the club's social fabric as any other player.
Jimmy Williams was jailed for 14 months for the sexual assault of a 15-year-old girl. It didn't appear to bother the club that a then-20-year-old Williams had in 2023 forced his hand under the skirt of a 15-year-old girl on an end-of-season trip at an Adelaide music festival. Or that it happened in front of the girl's horrified mother, who he told "it's fine" when she begged him to stop. Or that he bragged about the incident — like so many football predators have — in the immediate aftermath by writing to teammates he had "f*****ed a bird ha ha ha" when they asked why he'd been kicked out.
Williams pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor and was handed a 14-month jail sentence in April of 2024. But in October of 2025, a message went up on the social media pages of the Tyrendarra Football and Netball Club alongside a picture of Williams smiling. "Jimmy Williams is back for 2026!" it read, replete with a fire emoji, because his re-signing was evidently so hot. Then the bit that makes you feel ill. "A classy midfielder," they wrote. "Another season in the green and gold, we know he'll be setting the standard again."
The club made a grave error in judgment. But it only realised that error this week after a groundswell of anger from female players at the club, journalists, solicitors and the public. "The player is no longer part of the Club and will not return," said management at the Darras on Thursday.
There are many reasons this situation is so distressing. The victim was of secondary concern. The junior players, including young girls at the club, were of secondary concern. And it has happened so many times before, in small towns around the country.
Less than a month ago, I sat at this same desk writing about how another local footy star who had carried out a sickening sex crime against a 14-year-old girl was supported by his club. Jaiden Fidge was 24 when he sexually assaulted the girl at a party in Victoria. He also boasted to friends in his footy-obsessed inner circle about what he'd done to her before eventually pleading guilty. Was he shunned by the Toowoomba-based club? Absolutely not. Instead, he was named the senior men's Best and Fairest and was supplied with a glowing character reference by a senior female member of the club. News.com.au exclusively revealed last month that the woman who wrote the reference on an AFL letterhead no longer works for the AFL.
You don't need to go much further back into Victorian suburban football history to find the next best example of a club doing more than it should for sex offenders who wear its colours. Luke Merryfull and Shaun Bloomfield, both senior men's players for the Harrow-Balmoral Football Netball Club, raped a woman inside a caravan at a party in Victoria's west where footy is king. The pair were jailed over the 2016 attack, but dozens of supporters from the club turned up in Melbourne to support them at their sentencing. The victim, on the other hand, moved interstate. A podcast about the aftermath of the attack, titled Hometown Boys, paints a disturbing picture of the victim being isolated and the perpetrators receiving ongoing support. A text message to the victim after the verdict is particularly telling. "Congratulations on ruining two people's lives for your own immature mistake," a former friend from the town wrote. "I have known Shaun and Luke my entire life and know they would have never of [sic] done the things you have falsely accused them of. You have sent two innocent people to jail and I hope you live the rest of your life feeling guilty for what you have done. Karma will catch up with you."
It is not a coincidence that those who can kick a footy in small town Victoria are furnished with shameless advocacy even after they are convicted of sexual crimes against women and children. But it should always be called out. And sometimes it helps. Tyrendarra FNC noted in its public statement after dumping Williams this week that "recent reporting has raised serious questions about a decision" the club made regarding the sex offender's return. The club acknowledged people like Megan Latham, a former player brave enough to speak out after leaving the club, because it put Williams above everyone else. "We also acknowledge those who have spoken about how this was handled, and the trust we have lost with them," the statement read. "Nothing matters more than the safety and wellbeing of our players and members, especially children, women and girls."
Among those in the community to voice strong opposition were award-winning journalist and femicide researcher Sherele Moody and solicitor Andrew Carpenter from Websters Lawyers, who specialises in abuse law. "What did the Tyrendarra Football Club do as soon as this monster was released from prison? He started playing football again," Mr Carpenter said in a video this week. "Now if this is the club's idea of class and setting the standard, they should probably get a dictionary."
