BY JUSTIN KREMMER

EAGLE Chris Masten has not given the greatest first impression to his new club West Coast, after police today charged the gun recruit for disorderly behaviour in public.

The club’s first selection, Masten was caught up in a brawl during Australia Day celebrations on Saturday night in Perth. The 18 year old was handcuffed before being issued a “move-on” order, and then taken to a mobile police compound.

Masten is to face court in February, where it is believed he could be fined up to $6,000 if found guilty for a minor assault charge. “It is a minor assault charge, relating to an incident on the South Perth foreshore around 8.30pm on Saturday,” a WA police spokesperson said.

The club was fast to punish their new recruit after hearing the news, with the Eagles’ board and leadership group fining Masten $2,000 yesterday and suspending the No. 3 draft pick from part-taking in the NAB Cup pre-season games.

The Eagles have a new core values committee and match committee to deal with such problems following a long list of negative publicity off the field by its players’ misdemeanors, most notably Ben Cousins who was suspended by the AFL from playing football for a year.

Masten will be made to attend an extra charity event this year under the penalties worked out yesterday by the committees.

West Coast CEO Trevor Nisbett hopes Masten will put this event behind him and focus on what is ahead of him. “We hope this will be a steep learning curve for one of our rookie players and he can now put this behind him and start his professional career.”

Masten was part of the trade deal that saw former club captain Chris Judd move to the Blues.

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