Behind the glittering world of AFL footballers on red carpets with WAGs (wives and girlfriends) is the seemingly intractable problem of their sexual misconduct – often with those who don’t reach WAG status.

This is the sordid, indeed criminal milieu of Patricia Cornelius’s In the Club. A State Theatre Company of South Australia commission that premiered in 2018, it finally arrives in Melbourne with a new production directed by Kitan Petkovski for Bullet Heart Club and Theatre Works.

Strange that it took so long for this well-regarded play to arrive in the epicentre of Aussie Rules, where young footballers’ godlike sense of entitlement is most apparent.

Michelle Perera, Eva Seymour and Brigid Gallacher: In the Club. Photo © James Reiser

In the Club focuses on three women: feisty Annie who admired footballers for their skill – until she was sexually exploited by them; Olivia, who is outwardly bubbly but insecure, especially around men; and Ruby, who loves sex so has mastered the arts of seduction and sexual attractiveness.

After their monologues set the scene, the play unfolds at a nightclub frequented by footballers. We meet three, James, Sean and Angus, who operate...