NORTH Albury footballer Jarrah Maksymow is a young man at the crossroads in his life, according to a solicitor who represented for sentencing on several charges in court yesterday.
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Mark Cronin said Maksymow, 23, was still relatively young, but had alcohol and drug issues which needed to be addressed.
Mr Cronin said Maksymow, an Ovens and Murray league representative last year, had been approached by AFL teams.
He has been in custody since being arrested in February.
“He is indeed highly regarded as an Australian Rules footballer,” Mr Cronin said in Albury Local Court.
“It is really sad to see him place himself in this situation.”
Mr Cronin said Maksymow faced a task to rebuild trust in him within the football community.
“There is no doubt alcohol causes a change in him,” Mr Cronin said.
He said that from the start of pre-season to the end of the football season, Maksymow was diligent and did not drink alcohol.
But he lost focus in the off-season and associated with a peer group that was not productive to him.
Mr Cronin said Maksymow had been in a stable relationship for two years and his partner was expecting a child on July 22.
He was distressed about being in jail for the child’s birth and wanted to step into a parental role as soon as possible.
Maksymow appeared for sentencing on two counts of assault, affray, intimidation and using a carriage service to menace.
He made a threat to another man in a phone call last August and, three weeks later, assaulted him at the Newmarket Hotel.
Another man was also assaulted by Maksymow after a touch football game on October 6 and, two days later, there was a violent confrontation at a Thurgoona house.
Magistrate Tony Murray said Maksymow had a long history of violence.
He said he clearly was a talented young footballer but he had not used his God-given gifts.
Maksymow began using cannabis as a teenager and Mr Murray said the drug was “a path to destruction”.
He said many people who appeared in court for drug offences had started with cannabis and progressed to more dangerous, harder drugs.
“At the moment, he (Maksymow) just seems to be in a cycle of self destruction,” Mr Murray said.
Maksymow received a fixed three-month jail term for the intimidation matter and assault at the hotel.
Mr Murray imposed a 16-month jail term, with a maximum of six months, on the other charges making Maksymow eligible for release on December 13.
But a series of other offences, including recklessly causing grievous bodily harm, stemming from a confrontation between two groups at the Boomerang Hotel this year have been listed for hearing on November 11 and 12.
