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Edmund: Keyboard warriors should be ashamed for Bruhn vitriol
SEN • November 12th, 2025 10:52 am
The keyboard warriors should be ashamed for their treatment of Tanner Bruhn.
That is the opinion of SEN’s Sam Edmund who has read countless text messages and social media posts relating to the Geelong midfielder over the course of the past year or so.
On Tuesday, 23-year-old Bruhn and his friend Patrick Sinnott had sexual assault charges dropped after a key witness admitted to lying in court.
A court imposed suppression order was put in place while Bruhn was sidelined during the 2025 season, initially with a legitimate finger injury.
Speculation was rife throughout the year and the commentary around him endured throughout and continued on Grand Final day when people questioned his presence on the MCG.
Edmund wanted to point out the vitriol Bruhn was subjected to, taking a firm stance on those who were vocal.
“He copped it for that too. The amount of texts we got and I’m sure he and Geelong would have got too - ‘Why have you got this hanging around the club? Why is he out on the field?,” Edmund said on SEN Breakfast.
“People listening to this, there is a valuable lesson to be learnt here isn’t there. A lot of you, daily, were texting in any time we discussed Geelong, ‘Why isn’t Tanner playing? When are you going to tell the real Tanner story?’.
“And it got worse and worse and worse. Attacking us, attacking him without any semblance or understanding or comprehension or maybe even care about how suppression orders work.
“Second to that there was zero presumption of innocence. This is the great shame of it. The personal attacks he must have copped and the vitriol.
“Hang your head in shame, hang your head in shame. You should be embarrassed at best and disgusted in yourselves at worst.
“You hope he’s able to move on with his life with some sort of normalcy. I hope it’s possible. In the short term it’s going to be tough because the reality with situations like this is that mud can stick.
“Hopefully as categoric as this has been and as categorically shut down this has been that won’t be the case for Tanner and he can move on.”
Snapshot of the situation
Edmund and co-host Kane Cornes provided further information and their opinions on the matter.
Edmund: “The developments are about as terrifying as they are significant.
“The reason Tanner Bruhn has been absent for the field for more than a year because he was fighting allegations of rape. A suppression order over this court case for a long time had stopped us and any other media outlet from revealing Tanner Bruhn’s identity, and in fact any links at all to the AFL.
“Prosecutors yesterday dropped the rape and sexual assault charges against him and his friend, Patrick Sinnott, following an incident unbelievably way back in February of 2023. It stopped Geelong from explaining why their player basically vanished out of the side.
“For those asking the finger injury early on was legit, it was in a splint, but then after that they basically had no recourse to say anything about the player. Tanner had always protested his innocence.
“The issues emerged for the prosecution in a recent committal hearing when a witness testified that the female complainant had lied to police and that he had also lied to police and that he had then lied in court under oath, fabricating the entire story.
“That information was able to be tabled and released yesterday along with the lifting of that suppression order. The key witness we refer to is Harrison Martin who cracked under cross-examination last month under a good couple of hours of questioning.
“Bruhn missed the entire 2025 season as the case was before the courts.
“It’s not the half of it and his lawyer said yesterday - and you shudder at the thought of it - he has been “to hell and back” in terms of personal abuse. Imagine him going down the street with people knowing what’s going on and suspecting.
“He was viewed by many - a lot of you corresponded with us regularly, almost daily, and you know who you are - that he was guilty before being proven as such.”
The AFL’s role in this
Cornes: “No winners out of this. A harrowing read yesterday.
“How quickly your life can change through no fault of your own.
“I’m interested in the AFL’s role in this. It was a pretty difficult situation for them to be in as well because can you imagine the criticism that would have been levelled at them had this charge become public and Tanner’s name been made available and the AFL still allowed him to play.
“Now that you find out that he’s genuinely innocent you think perhaps the AFL were pretty heavy-handed on this.
“The best example of this is the NRL’s no-fault stand down clause which is the policy that suspends players who are charged with serious criminal offences. They can still train and be paid but if it is a player facing a prison sentence of 11-plus years they’re automatically suspended.
“I’ve got no idea what the right thing for the AFL to do is because we’ve always been told innocent until proven guilty yet this is almost the reverse of that from the AFL’s point of view.
“This is a bit of a wake-up call to everyone and the whole of the league. I’m waiting for them to speak on this. Should Andrew Dillon speak on this and what they’ve learnt from this situation?
“Clearly their sympathies would be with Tanner but I’m not sure they had any other option but to do what they did.”
The complainant’s anonymity
Edmund: “If we’re getting to criticise we criticise the crown case. It’s so excruciatingly slow.
“The incident was alleged to have taken place in February 2023. We’re told a lack of resources was the reason that it took 14 months.
“September 2024 police took Tanner and Patrick in for questioning and it wasn’t until February of 2025 that charges were actually laid. That is so slow.
“Now we can say that the whole thing was a complete fabrication.
“The other part of it is he gets named yesterday. So too does the co-defendant, Patrick, and the witness who lied under oath but not the complainant.
“Her identity is protected by the usual regulations and provisions relating to victims of sexual offences. The protection remains in place regardless of the outcome of the case.
“His lawyer, Anna Balmer, said yesterday that he endured a nightmare and he wanted those responsible for the false allegations held to account. There’d be all sorts of avenues open for any sorts of civil recourse you’d think.”
Recompense for Tanner
Cornes: “I hope there’s some financial compensation for him. He’s probably still been paid by Geelong but whether he can get his career back on track after missing a year, I’m not sure.
“For the reputational and financial damage this has caused him I hope there is some compensation for him and I hope he explores that.
“There’d be lawsuits he could pursue individuals for.”
