Josh Mellington still cannot explain why he chose to drive down the Hume Freeway at 164 kilometres per hour.
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The 23-year-old Albury Tigers forward first caught the attention of police at Glenrowan about 8pm on July 8 when they noticed the taillights of his silver Ford were not working.
Then they clocked him at the high speed on their radar device.
The car was immediately impounded for 30 days.
Mellington, of Benalla, appeared in Wangaratta Magistrates’ Court on Monday to plead guilty to charges of driving at a dangerous speed and driving an unroadworthy vehicle.
Defence lawyer James Sloan said there was no emergency and no excuse for his client to be driving at a dangerous speed.
But he said being a player at the Albury Tigers was a positive influence to ensure Mellington would stay on the right path.
Magistrate John O’Callaghan issued what he admitted was a low fine of $300, without conviction, and disqualified his driver’s licence for 12 months.
He said to play in a historically successful Albury team, which won another premiership last week, showed “credibility and discipline”.
Mr Sloan said his client worked in sales at Joss Total Warehouse Solutions in Wodonga so losing his licence would have a major impact.
Albury Tigers director and Mellington’s employer Paul Joss was in court to support the 23-year-old and wrote a reference.
“He’s sticking by him and sees him as being, as Mr Joss says, a good kid,” Mr Sloan said.
“He won’t lose his job, as long as he can get to work … he will lose $10,000 in commission so this is a very costly mistake for this young man.”
The court heard Mellington was drafted to Fremantle’s AFL team for the first three years of his career before moving to Essendon’s VFL side, then Albury in 2016.
Mr O’Callahgan said the court appearance was a turning point.
“You’re going through a period that a lot of young men go through, particularly young men with a lot of success, you get elevated,” he said.
“I believe this is out of character, unlikely to be repeated.”
The magistrate gave Mellington credit for having the strength to admit he has some “depressive issues”.
“It’s not unmanly to say ‘I’ve got some issues’, it’s a sign of absolute strength to say ‘I’m going to do something about it’,” Mr O’Callaghan said.