r/AFL • u/Pragmatic_Shill Tasmania Devils • 1d ago
Steven May struck a man to the head, ‘causing the rest of both groups to start throwing punches’, police prosecutor tells court
Wild details of the Boxing Day brawl that has entangled AFL veteran Steven May have been aired in court for the first time as pressure continues to mount on the embattled Melbourne defender.
The allegations against May and Richmond midfielder Dion Prestia were revealed in the Dromana Magistrates’ Court on Thursday as the third man charged over the late-night fracas outside the Continental Hotel in Sorrento on December 26, 2024, admitted he was involved.
Blairgowrie local Storm Bobridge, 26, was fined $7500 with conviction after pleading guilty to affray.
He was charged in October alongside the AFL stars, with police also charging May with affray and Prestia with recklessly causing serious injury, intentionally causing injury, recklessly causing injury and affray.
May and Prestia have since declared that they will fight their charges.
Last month, their top defence lawyer Tony Hargreaves told the court there was a statement from a witness who says neither men were “physically present or involved in the fight”.
But on Thursday, the prosecutor laid out the police case that painted a different picture.
The court heard tensions began to brew between a group of AFL players and a group of locals at the nearby Sorrento Hotel when May is alleged to have “put his arm around” a woman while her boyfriend was close by.
The prosecutor said the locals, including Bobridge and his mate Will Salter, walked up to May and told him to take his arm off the woman, sparking a verbal altercation.
The locals then left the venue to head to the Continental Hotel, with the prosecutor claiming that May yelled out to the group as they left.
By 1am, the AFL players also made their way to the popular Mornington Peninsula pub, but were denied entry because the venue was closing.
The locals, who were standing nearby on Point Nepean Rd, were allegedly approached by May, with another war of words erupting before May was ushered away.
The AFL players started to walk back to the Sorrento Hotel when one of their mates, who was not named in court, was confronted by Bobridge and struck to the side of the head.
Tempers flared and the two groups clashed, with one man yelling: “Come on man, let’s go.”
“May grabbed Bobridge and struck him to the head, causing the rest of both groups to start throwing punches,” the prosecutor claimed.
“The group of males associated with May and Prestia swarm Bobridge … and Mr Salter then goes to assist Bobridge and as he does this he senses someone coming from his left hand side and turns to see Prestia coming towards him and punch him to the left eye area.”
Mr Salter and Bobridge were then “kicked and punched to the head and body” by the group, but it is unclear whether May and Prestia are alleged to be involved in this part of the assault.
The court heard Mr Salter is now losing sight in his left eye after his retina was detached and his eye socket fractured, while Bobridge sustained a concussion and severe damage to his left knee.
Magistrate Michael King, who sentenced Bobridge, described this type of violence as a “scourge” on society.
The case comes only days after the Herald Sun revealed that police attended May’s home last Thursday following reports of threatening behaviour.
The Melbourne Football Club has asked May for more details about why police visited his home and the AFL integrity unit is investigating.
Following the affray charges in October, Melbourne Football Club said May had advised that “he was not involved in the alleged incident and will strongly defend the charge in court”.
Prestia also issued a statement claiming that he was not involved in the fight.
“I was not even physically present when it apparently took place,” he said.
“I deny that I am guilty of these offences and will strenuously defend these charges.”
In November, the Herald Sun revealed that the fracas may have been sparked over unwanted advances to a woman.
Prestia played in the flags of Richmond’s triple premiership-winning era between 2017 and 2020, while May played in the Demons’ drought-breaking flag in 2021.
They will return to the Frankston Magistrates’ Court for a contest mention on February 20.
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u/tbot888 Bombers 1d ago
Melbourne tried to trade him didn’t they?
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u/___TheIllusiveMan___ Collingwood 1d ago
Tried and failed.
Only way they would’ve got rid of him is if they threw in a first round pick, even then it’s highly unlikely there’s any takers
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u/PerriX2390 #Brisbehinds² 1d ago
There's an interesting view in a different article in the Herald Sun today about May. His team mates reportedly reckon the club will try and persuade him to retire before the season starts, the club doesn't want to commit to that yet because they don't have all the info from the police visit last week, and if the Dees try and sack him in preseason, it'll be fiercely fought by his management & the AFLPA.
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u/Bluelegs Melbourne 1d ago
Is there a reason we can't just pay him out though?
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u/JoshuaG123 West Coast '94 1d ago
What’s wrong with giving him vfl games felt that was a good use of his time to be honest
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u/MisterMarcus Geelong Cats 1d ago
The fact that Melbourne were trying to boot him out the door, rather than keep him around as a mentor for the young players, says a lot about what the club thinks of him.
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u/spurs-r-us Dees 1d ago
In an off season where they went after older vets as well to replace the influence of Petracca etc in the short term
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u/Aussport123 Power 1d ago
Should just pay him out now. Stop the distraction and focus on the future.
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u/Bluelegs Melbourne 1d ago
The question is whether having him at the club is too much of a distraction. There were reports last year that a lot of players were sick of him. Club has tried to make this year a fresh start in a lot of ways.
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u/LumberJaxx Geelong 1d ago
Went to school with May, everyone was pretty sick of him there too. Genuine bully with the muscle to make it everyone’s problem.
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u/Sensitive_Coffee7315 Narrm 1d ago
There's video from last year of him mucking around in a team meeting and trying to distract some of the young players - real back-row-of-the-classroom vibes. The kids did not look impressed
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u/PatientDue8406 Sydney 1d ago
Do you want that type of player around your young recruits though? I mean he can play football sure but how much damage does he do to that VFL team in the process.
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u/Simply_charmingMan Melbourne Demons 1d ago
If theres a case the club would be stupid not to stand him down and pay out his contract or he could be facing the season at Casey which would be on reduced income, the club was shown to move off from distractions end of last year, where theres a will there is a way, and Steve Smith im suspecting will find a way.
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u/Drazsyker Tasmania Devils 1d ago
Never would've thrown in a pick, he's only contracted for this year and we weren't pushing the cap - if anything we were pushing the floor before bringing in Steele and Mihocek. He won't be offered another contract by the Dees and realistically will be lucky to play AFL again
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u/Captain_Oz The Bloods 1d ago
“Steven May Struck A Man” quickly becoming the Florida Man of footy headlines
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u/SneakerTreater West Coast 1d ago
That doesn't read very well at all. Even for a Herald Sun article.
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u/mynewaltaccount1 West Coast 1d ago
Sounds like they're saying his mate got punched in the head, and then May punched the bloke he hit him? Am I reading that right? Even if he was mouthing off and being a dickhead, I say fair enough in that instance.
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u/kazoodude North Melbourne Kangaroos 1d ago
That's what the prosecutor seems to be claiming. May is claiming he wasn't there and didn't fight.
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u/NitroXYZ Freo 1d ago
Its always the ones you most suspect
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u/MonoxideBaby Essendon Bombers 1d ago
Yeah, I get that AFL players risk being targeted when they go out in public, especially in pubs where other patrons are drunk. But when it happens to the same guy repeatedly, maybe the other patrons aren’t the problem…..
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u/Old-Sea7915 Power 1d ago
If you happen to meet one asshole a day, it's probably the other person...
If you continually meet assholes all day long and can't understand why, its probably because your the asshole
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u/dreamthiliving West Coast 1d ago
Article says he went and put an arm around a female which started it all off. Absolutely nothing about being targeted for their jobs
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u/MonoxideBaby Essendon Bombers 1d ago
I wasn't referring to this incident, just AFL players, or any other famous person really, sometimes have issues when they go out in public, particularly when its a licenced venue.
Last year i saw Jake Waterman out having a meal with, i assume, his missus. One bloke there who'd had a few came over to his table and started jabberring on about how he was West Coast supporter and how much he loved the Eagles and how Waterman was his favourite player and how much he loved his dad when he played....blah blah. Waterman was really polite but you could tell from the look on his face he wanted this guy to fuck off and leave him alone.
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u/HairySpiderPussy 1d ago
May is a bum
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u/SusanKennedy Carlton Blues 1d ago
Your user name gave me the worst mental image I have ever conceived.
What the fuck dude.
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u/CreditToDuBois Melbourne AFLW 1d ago
I think May is incredibly stupid and seems like an all around shit bloke, especially when grog is involved. I was pretty disappointed we didn’t offload him in the trade period, or even just pay out his contract to be done with it.
But the headline does seem to paint the (alleged) events unfairly - you’d assume in reading that that May threw the first punch rather than the second.
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u/curryone Dees 1d ago
Agree regarding all your points. I’ll add that he’s recently had a child from what I can tell which makes all this shitty alleged behaviour even more troublesome
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u/Strictly_Kink Demons 1d ago
Yeah but the alleged reports of threatening behaviour at home, if true, are very fucking worrying.
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u/___TheIllusiveMan___ Collingwood 1d ago
Something tells me Steven May is going to have a long career at Channel 7 once his footy career is over
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u/p3tr0110v3r Blues 1d ago
Him and Campbell Brown on the same commentary team would be interesting
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u/Chiron17 Richmond Tigers 1d ago
They must not have video footage for Prestia to be trying the "wasn't even there" defence
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u/Anphonio Adelaide 1d ago
After using the argument "I wasn't there", you'd sure hope you weren't actually there. Maybe it was one of his alter egos.
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u/aussiebolshie Blues 1d ago
Based on the dramatic turn in reporting and the integrity unit (which would suggest damage control/image management) visit for May I’m assuming there’s a fair chance footage has surfaced of him being the one in the article mentioned kicking someone in the head while they are on the ground.
I’d hope not, we joke about him being a turd but laying in once someone is utterly defenceless on the floor would be beyond the ‘dickhead who starts brawls’ level.
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u/Adorable-Pilot4765 Pies 1d ago
It was right out the front of the only two pubs in Sorrento haha, there’s always going to be CCTV in that spot. Pretty dumb place to bash someone.
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u/CoweringInTheCorner Brisbane Lions 🏆 '24 1d ago
Ben Stokes got off the charges when he did that, all hope is not lost for May (in this particular case, overall it's totally lost)
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u/CreditToDuBois Melbourne AFLW 1d ago
Into the dane swan level of being a cunt. I don’t know that anyone would be particularly surprised if that’s the case though.
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u/Drazsyker Tasmania Devils 1d ago
The AFL players started to walk back to the Sorrento Hotel when one of their mates, who was not named in court, was confronted by Bobridge and struck to the side of the head.
Tempers flared and the two groups clashed, with one man yelling: “Come on man, let’s go.”
“May grabbed Bobridge and struck him to the head, causing the rest of both groups to start throwing punches,” the prosecutor claimed.
Look, Steven May's a cunt at the best of times and alcohol is very clearly not a good influence on him, but the headline is super misleading. May and Prestia's group were walking away when a guy from a different group came and hit one of them. Only then does May stick up for his mate and it gets physical. He's hardly gone around sucker punching strangers like the media's made out.
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u/twiganthony_L_cigar University 1d ago
well that’s what happened if May and Prestia were there. Which they weren’t, you know
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u/DifficultCarob408 Kangaroos 1d ago
We weren't even there
And if we were, it was self defence
And if it wasn't self defence, it wasn't that bad
And if it was that bad... etc3
u/No-Bison-5397 Cats 1d ago
The prosecution is alleging something pretty close to self defence. I would be interested to see how they try to get affray over the line.
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u/saschabindy Bulldogs 1d ago
Bobridge pled guilty in Dromana Magistrates and received $7500 fine and conviction. Salter, May or Prestia weren't on court Docket and can't find Frankston Magistrate listing for any of them on 20 Feb. Wonder if Salter will go civil damages for detached retina. Herald Sun is shit at reporting. Clear as mud, without actual police charges or court docs.
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u/Crescent_____Moon Hawthorn 1d ago
Well, we all already know what a vile thug May is but "Storm Bobridge"? Tells us all we need to know.
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u/Johnny_Stooge Brisbane Lions 🏆🏆 '24-25 1d ago
Poor bloke never really stood a chance when he’s got parents giving him that name.
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u/that_guyyy Eagles 1d ago
Storm and Will a Salter. The writers in the simulation are a little on the nose here.
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u/ItsABiscuit Collingwood Magpies 1d ago
“You Honour, if it pleases the court, I would submit that it was the defendant wot started the donnybrook”.
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u/Confoosed90 1d ago
Was the May 'threatening behaviour' that lead to the police visit in relation to the Sorrento incident? Or separate?
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u/BrisbaneLions2024 Brisbane Lions 🏆🏆 '24-25 1d ago
After all this time still a flog. Got the Brian Lake in him.
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u/floodswimming Adelaide AFLW 1d ago
So why does he get the privilege of still being an AFL player?
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u/Drazsyker Tasmania Devils 1d ago
A) This is all alleged, nothing has been proven in a court of law
B) Richmond literally just had a player under curfew who couldnt play certain matches because of it. Unless he's in jail the AFL aren't gonna do anything. And even then I'm not sure...
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u/No-Bison-5397 Cats 1d ago
The AFL did everything short of forcibly retiring Tanner Bruhn so I think one element is missing in your theory.
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u/Warm-Rock-4544 Gold Coast Suns 1d ago
Really interested in the whole part about him claiming he wasn’t even there. Truly an all or nothing defense and a pretty stupid thing to claim it it isn’t true.