Western Bulldogs AFL team goes on the attack after being hit with record payout for not doing enough to protect child sex abuse survivor from a paedophile

A ‘sleazy’ volunteer in a trench coat who took photos of barely clothed teen footballers was not evidence enough to prove an AFL club could have foreseen he was a pedophile, a court has been told.

The Western Bulldogs club, formally known as Footscray, launched an appeal against a jury’s negligence finding against it, and a subsequent $5.9 million payout to a child sexual abuse survivor.

It was the largest award that has been paid out to an abuse survivor in Australia.

Adam Kneale, 51, launched legal action against the Melbourne-based club after he suffered abuse between 1984 and 1990 at the hands of fundraising volunteer Graeme Hobbs.

Hobbs, who has since died, first sexually abused Mr Kneale when he was 11 or 12 at an administration building at the club’s home ground in 1984.

Following a four-week trial in Melbourne’s Supreme Court, a jury of six found the Bulldogs were negligent and awarded $5,943,151 in damages, including $3,250,000 for Mr Kneale’s pain and suffering.

However, the Bulldogs maintains the club is not responsible for Mr Kneale’s abuse and argued on Friday for Victoria’s Court of Appeal to overturn the jury’s finding and payout.

Bulldogs barrister Bret Walker SC claimed ‘red flags’ reported to the club’s leadership about Hobbs were not evidence enough to prove he would go onto commit child sexual abuse.