Barrister Tom Percy claims Josh Hill child sex offences will be ‘defended’ as case front Broome court

A high-profile barrister has declared child sex charges against ex-AFL player Josh Hill will be “defended” during a brief hearing of the case on Monday. The former West Coast Eagles and Western Bulldogs star faced Broome Magistrates Court charged with four counts of sexually penetrating a child over 13 and under 16. Appearing via video-link on behalf of Hill’s solicitor Daniel McDonald, defence barrister Tom Percy told the court: “I can tell the court the matter will be defended”. Hill did not appear at the hearing. Details of the alleged offending were not read out and no plea was given with the case set for a committal mention on June 23. Hill was charged with four counts of sexually penetrating a child over 13 and under 16 in February earlier this year. Three of the offences allegedly took place in Broome between December 21 and 30, 2015 while another offence allegedly took place in Scarborough between January 20 and 27, 2016. The 36-year-old also stands accused of indecently dealing with a child in the same age range in Broome in 2015. In his hearing in February, Hill was given bail conditions to forfeit his Working With Children card and passport to police, and to not leave Australia or work with children or have unsupervised access to them. However, Hill was allowed to take his two children to daycare. There is no suggestion his children are the alleged victims. He was also prohibited from having contact with at least a dozen people. Under his bail, a personal undertaking of $2000 was set and the same amount for his surety. Hill was axed by the Eagles in 2017 after playing 173 games in the AFL, 66 with the Bulldogs and 107 for West Coast, including its 2015 Grand Final. He kicked 75 goals for the Bulldogs and 151 for the Eagles. He then moved back to Victoria and signed with Carlton’s VFL affiliate side Northern Blues in 2018. Hill, who is originally from Broome, attended Trinity College in Perth as teenager and was drafted at age 18 from Claremont to the Bulldogs in 2006 before debuting in 2007 against West Coast. He was traded to the Eagles in 2011 at 22 and made his debut in the 2012 season. Hill was named best on ground in the second western derby of 2015 with a four-goal performance. He finished that season with 40 goals to his name. He was the assistant coach at Melbourne’s St Albans Football Club in 2021, working under ex-Eagles defender and premiership player Sam Butler as the head coach.