To her credit she counsels the employee and receives an apology from him. She does not take it further as she knows that it would ruin the employee's career and she is prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt. Months later, after the highly male paid employees have poorly performed, the manager bears the brunt of further derogatory remarks by the same employee – this time to her face and in front of other employees. Humiliated and distressed, the manager realises that her position is untenable and leaves the workforce. The head of the organisation – McKenzie – shows compassion and integrity by escorting her to the airport to ensure that she is safe. The head of the organisation is then subjected to intense scrutiny concerning his professional relationship with Patston and is forced to deny that his relationship was anything other than professional. Meanwhile Patston resigns. This is an outline of what we have seen take place with the Wallabies.

Let there be no misunderstanding: the players are employees of the ARU, bound by a higher code of policies than your usual employee/employer relationship. Yet as employees they have conducted themselves like an ill-disciplined rabble who believe that they are not bound by the same laws that you and I are. To make matters worse the Australian Captain Michael Hooper has now come forward and supported Beale and asked that his positon be retained. He offered no support for Patston whose career is in tatters and who has been humiliated nationally. Whomever is advising Hooper should reflect on what they have allowed him publicly to endorse – both sexual harassment and workplace bullying. Hooper's attitude shows blatant contempt for all the women (players, mothers and grandmothers) who give countless hours over many years to the sport of rugby in voluntary and supportive capacities, not to mention outright discouragement to future female employees. Clearly, the ARU sees there is no place for women in the game, if the players' current attitudes are accepted. In addition, the behaviour of the media in pursuing the integrity of McKenzie shows that ignorance in relation to harassment in the workforce is alive and well.

Instead of acknowledging the compassion that McKenzie showed to one of his staff members we have instead chosen to focus on the woman who must be responsible for what has occurred. The truth is Patston did not send the inappropriate images through the workplace. Patston did not abuse and humiliate a work colleague. All she did was obtain a high-profile position in a male-dominated sport and has been publically vilified and humiliated for it. As a nation of sport-lovers, we must not accept this from the men we'd like our children to hold as heroes. Until the Wallabies appreciate the fundamental error of their behaviour, then they will never regain the support and admiration that they have had from so many women in the past. Perhaps Hooper rather than speaking out on issues he obviously does not understand he would be better served spending time with Nick Farr-Jones, Peter FitzSimons or John Eales – Wallabies of integrity. Something that Hooper has not yet discovered. That's the truth.

Adair Donaldson is a partner at Shine Lawyers and a member of the NRL's respectful relationships committee.