AFL great Sam Newman has backed his son’s legal action against his former school and one of Australia’s biggest basketball stars over an alleged attack a decade ago that he claims left him with life-changing injuries.
Max Jones, 25, is suing Geelong Grammar for negligence and ‘failing to institute a culture at the school that prevented the abuse of students by fellow students’ over the alleged incident involving Australian NBA star Jock Landale.
He alleges Landale – who is now engaged to the niece of TV presenter Rebecca Maddern – forced him to the ground and attacked him on February 7, 2013.
It’s alleged Landale repeatedly jumped on Mr Jones’ torso to the beat of a song played through a portable speaker inside a school common room, according to a writ obtained by the Herald Sun.
Mr Jones was in year 10 then, while Landale was in year 12.
Basketball star Jock Landale (pictured with fiancée Indi Maddern) is being sued by Max Jones over an alleged incident at Geelong Grammar in 2013
Mr Jones alleges he had to undergo a discectomy to remove damaged discs in his spine a week later.
And now TV personality and former AFL star Newman has publicly thrown his support behind his son, telling News Corp he had his ‘full support’.
‘I have not been involved in Max’s action but having said that he is quite entitled to pursue whatever course he thinks is justified and in that endeavour he has my full support,’ he said.
‘I know that Max suffered a debilitating back injury during an incident with another student at the school he attended and it is an ongoing problem today.’
Mr Jones is suing both Geelong and Landale, 27, for loss of past and future earnings and medical expenses, and enlisted legal firm Arnold Thomas and Becker to represent him.
‘The incident constituted a battery at common law for which the second defendant (Landale) is directly liable’, the writ states.
‘As a result of the incident and the injuries caused by the incident, the plaintiff’s ability to concentrate and the study was prejudiced.’
Geelong Grammar has denied the allegations and claimed Mr Jones did not report any assault at the time.
Landale has also denied the alleged assault and other allegations made against him by Mr Jones.
Lawyers for the school, Landale and Mr Jones have all declined to comment further with the matter currently before the courts.
Max Jones, the youngest son of Sam Newman (pictured) is suing his former school
Max Jones claims the alleged assault occurred at Geelong Grammar (pictured) in 2013
Landale is one of Australia’s highest-paid sports stars who was part of the Australian Boomers team that won bronze at the Tokyo Olympics.
He currently plays in the NBA for the Phoenix Suns on $2.3m a year and is engaged to Indi Maddern, the niece of Rebecca Maddern.
Geelong Grammar is among Australia’s most exclusive private schools where fees cost $40,000 a year. The then Prince Charles, now King Charles III, attended the school for six months in 1966.
Mr Jones is the youngest of Newman’s three sons.
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His mother Leonie Jones, Newman’s third wife infamously ‘accidentally’ drove over the Footy Show host, breaking his leg and smashing his ankle in while pregnant with their son in 1997.
In an interview back in 2003, Newman described his then five-year-old son ‘smarter than me and his mother combined.’
Jock Landale (pictured with his fiancée) is one of Australia’s highest-paid sports stars
He then revealed in a 2017 he had a different relationship with Max than with his two older sons.
‘I’m mates with the two older ones, the younger one is 19, and I have a different relationship with him because he’s at a different stage in life and another generation away from the boys I had earlier. We have a different relationship and view on things,’ Newman told the Herald Sun.
Mr Jones has previously opened up about his aspirations in the media to follow in the footsteps of his dad, who gave his blessing.
‘I love sport and have seen the highs and lows and good and bad sides of it through Dad both on and off TV,’ Mr Jones told the Herald Sun in 2020.
‘I would really love to get into it (TV). That is what I am trying to strive towards.’
‘I have spoken to him (Newman) a couple of times (about TV), and he has always been incredibly supportive and encouraged me to do what I feel is right.’
