St Kilda footballer Sam Gilbert has issued a public apology to his teammates and club following the publication on Facebook of explicit photographs reportedly taken from his computer.
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In a statement late this afternoon, Gilbert said he had taken the nude photo of captain Nick Riewoldt in Miami last year and the image was taken from his computer in what was a ‘‘harsh lesson’’ on the perils of social media.
‘‘I confirm emphatically that the photo was taken by myself and taken in Nick’s hotel room in Miami while on holidays over 12 months ago,’’ he said.
‘‘I can also confirm that the pictures that were posted on Facebook were taken from my computer and that is currently subject to discussion with the Victoria Police.’’
The image was one of two explicit photographs uploaded to Facebook by a 17-year-old girl, who maintains she personally snapped the photos and is promising to release 19 more images of other AFL footballers in defiance of a Federal Court order.
A fuming Riewoldt told a media conference this morning he was "bitterly disappointed" that Gilbert did not delete the image from his computer, as promised.
Gilbert conceded he had learnt a ‘‘very real and harsh lesson of the risks involved by taking photos of this nature, irrespective of where the photos are kept’’.
The girl posted two photographs yesterday featuring Riewoldt, Nick Dal Santo and Zac Dawson before her Facebook page was shut down.
The teen this afternoon threatened to publish more images at 7am tomorrow when her Facebook account was reactivated.
According to the girl, the footballers at the centre of the scandal posed for the explicit pictures and had been worried for months that they would be made public.
But Riewoldt savaged the girl's claims today, saying he had never met the teenager and suggestions that he had posed nude for her were "absolute garbage".
‘‘To infer that I would stand there and pose for a photograph naked knowing that it was going to be kept is just absolute garbage and offensive,’’ he said.
Riewoldt said he had "no association" with the teen and expressed his shock and disappointment over the image.
But he said there was no fracture in his professional relationship with Gilbert and he would continue to work with his teammate at St Kilda.
He said the photograph was taken after he got out of bed and he asked Gilbert to delete the photograph immediately.
‘‘I was on holiday in Miami and I sleep with my clothes off like most people do I would assume, and got out of bed and the photo was taken,’’ Riewoldt said.
‘‘I was aware of it being taken at the time and asked for the photo to be deleted and I assumed that it had been deleted.’’
Riewoldt, who said he was not affected by alcohol at the time, said he was unaware that the photo still existed until a few weeks ago and he had not seen it until yesterday.
"I assumed it had been deleted," Riewoldt said, alleging the photograph had been obtained illegally.
"I don't know why someone I don't know would want to denigrate me like this."
The AFL and police interviewed the teen when she was a student, following allegations she had become pregnant to a Saints player.
The girl, who said her baby was stillborn, told The Age she was posting the photos out of revenge because the AFL and St Kilda had ‘‘treated me with disrespect’’.
The girl said the photos were not stolen and told The Age she had met Riewoldt on several occasions despite his denials.
The teen told ABC radio this morning that she took the photographs at a Melbourne home and a hotel.
She said the players "didn't exactly say yes" to having the photographs taken.
"I said 'I'm taking a photo' and they posed for it and they didn't tell me to delete it afterwards so if you call that permission then, yeah," she told ABC radio, adding that she was fully clothed at the time.
Yesterday the girl, who is currently staying in Queensland with her parents, told The Age that the players had told her to take the photos, and had then asked her to delete them.
She said she had not attempted to sell the photographs, but had shown them to several media outlets recently.
"I just wanted to get back at them basically because just the way I was treated from the AFL, it just wasn't right. I don't know, it's sort of a complicated situation," she said.
"I haven't really been in contact with any AFL players since probably August.
"They knew that I had them [the photographs] because I've had them since April and they've sort of been a bit worried, especially the AFL manager."
St Kilda coach Ross Lyon said the club was determined "not to be a victim" to the situation.
Riewoldt’s manager Ricky Nixon said the teen needed professional support.
‘‘I guess that’s the concern of everybody and the police included. There isn’t anyone she seems to be talking to,’’ he told 3AW.
‘‘We all need to sit down and try and help her, and not give her oxygen.’’
With Megan Levy, Paul Millar and Will Brodie
