If it is true that a Richmond premiership player passed on to friends and teammates personal photographs of a semi-naked woman, then the Tigers cannot defend him. And the AFL, if required, must overrule the club and suspend him.

As damaging as this story could become for the club and as uncomfortable as it is for the image-conscious AFL, then just imagine how the young woman in question must feel. If what she has alleged took place - and certainly anyone who wants to has seen the photograph - then she has been violated and humiliated.

The AFL's rewrite of its respect and responsibility policy is exposed.

And you can only imagine what her parents must be going through. It was the family who took this sordid allegation to the club in a complaint that has finished up in the hands of police and again exposed the AFL's clumsy efforts to rewrite its respect and responsibility policy.

Now the woman in this case is traumatised and the AFL's role has been to reach out to support her. Richmond are silent and waiting for the results of the police investigation. Clearly this grubby story has dealt a major blow to a club that was rightly presenting as a new benchmark within the competition.