Carlton midfielder Mitch Robinson told the AFL club he fractured his eye socket while sparring before it was revealed he had been in the same early-morning brawl as teammate Jeff Garlett.
Garlett came forward on Monday about his involvement in an incident outside a city bar at 5am on Sunday, which resulted in the arrest of four men.
It emerged only on Thursday night that Robinson was also there.
He has been fined $5000, the maximum available under player rules. The eye socket injury means his season is in effect over.
Robinson apologised publicly on Friday.
"To the club and the playing group and supporters for withholding the truth of what happened on Sunday morning," Robinson said.
"I was in the wrong and all I can do now is apologise to the club and my teammates."
Carlton football operations manager Andrew McKay said while the players were the victims, the fact they were out so late and covered up Robinson's involvement was very disappointing.
"Mitch presented to the club on Monday with a sore eye and he went and had some scans and we asked him why and he said he'd been sparring," McKay said.
"We found that not to be the case.
"We don't want our players out at that time of the morning, especially when one (Garlett) is trying to get back into the team and one (Robinson) is suspended.
"We're very disappointed that they weren't truthful with us."
Both players are off contract at the end of the season but McKay wouldn't be drawn on their future.
Robinson said he would use the next four weeks to "prove to the club why I should be here".
It's not the first time Robinson has been involved in an off-field incident. He was involved in an altercation at the Big Day Out music festival in 2013, resulting in him being ordered to perform two months community service and donate $1000 to charity.
"We don't want to discuss anyone's future at the club.
"We haven't sat down as a player management group and discussed this at all."
Coach Mick Malthouse went through a similar situation when he was at the helm of Collingwood, when Heath Shaw and Alan Didak lied about a car crash.
"Mick feeling disappointed and the same as me, frustrated about the whole deal," McKay said.
"We're trying to build a culture here that's strong and we need to have everyone on board to do that."
Garlett was set to be recalled from the VFL for their clash on Saturday with Gold Coast at Etihad Stadium before Malthouse ruled him out.
Robinson had just completed a two-game suspension for rough conduct from their round 18 game against North Melbourne.
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