Eagles defend club culture after Kerr arrest
West Coast Eagles chief executive Trevor Nisbett has defended his club's culture in the wake of former star Daniel Kerr's troubles, labelling negative views of the events as an "absolute disgrace".
Speaking for the first time since Mr Kerr's four-night stint in Hakea Prison, Mr Nisbett said there was a misguided view that football clubs were responsible for players after they retired.
While conceding there were several former Eagles who had struggled in their post-football lives, he stood by the club's record of producing success stories off the field and helping players unable to find their way.
Mr Nisbett said the club would continue to support Mr Kerr should he need it.
Although there was sometimes animosity between players and the club when an employment contract ended, it was a product of the football cycle. "It's sometimes difficult for people to comprehend that the players don't live here when their careers have ended," Mr Nisbett said.
"The issue for us is whether we can have an influence because it becomes the choice of a player after they are no longer our employee.
"It's just the end of their life cycle as a footballer. It's not the end of their life cycle in work.
"There is a strong expectation that football clubs are everything to everybody and they're not.
"When you're trying to educate people to try to do the right thing and educate them about their responsibility as role models in the community, it's sometimes difficult for young people to grasp that."
Mr Kerr, 31, was released on bail from Hakea Prison on Sunday after his parents signed a $5000 surety.
The former Eagles star had spent four nights at the maximum-security prison since his arrest over allegations he poured a flammable liquid around a Glendalough house and threatened to set it alight.
Mr Nisbett said the Eagles' only major behavioural blemish in the past eight seasons had been youngster Murray Newman's jailing this year for assaulting a man who had slept with his former girlfriend.
He said the club's core values program was being driven by former SAS boss James McMahon, now commissioner of WA's Department of Corrective Services.
Mr Nisbett vowed not to rest on the recent good record.
"We're extremely proud of that throughout the club but we're also extremely diligent to ensure that we stay on top of those things," he said.
"If anyone thinks there is a dreadful culture at West Coast, that is so far off the mark and an absolute disgrace."
