NO NEED TO EVEN BRING IT UP, SAYS ANGRY EX-SAINT

No need for it to be brought up, Dal Santo says of Thomas claim

FORMER St Kilda star Nick Dal Santo is upset he has been “painted with the brush” after former coach Grant Thomas said recreational drug use was rife among the playing group during his time at the Saints.

Thomas lit the fuse when, speaking on his podcast Sam, Mike and Thommo, the 60year-old revealed he initially suspected only a few players were using recreational drugs.

However, after his sacking in 2006, Thomas said he had been told the number of players was considerably higher.

“I would have had suspicion maybe one or maybe two [players]. But you know what, the worst thing, no more than a week or so after I finished one of the players, we were having a catch-up and he told me what had actually been going on, which basically devastated me,” Thomas said.

“He said that it [recreational drug use] was rife — a lot of them. Some of the players that were mentioned could have dropped me.”

Dal Santo, who was drafted in 2001 and played 260 matches for the Saints before finishing his career at North Melbourne, said he was disappointed by Thomas’s claims.

“I would initially think people would look at me and think, ‘he’s a pretty straight sort of guy’,” Dal Santo said.

“I will say I’m extremely disappointed that I’m going to get painted with the brush of possibly being one of those drug takers that you wouldn’t have thought did it.

“I would be shocked if it was ‘rife’ with that playing group. I’m not calling Grant a liar, because if that’s the story he’s been told, he has every right to tell it. But I look through some of the guys I grew up with since I was 17 and I’m still really close with a big group of them. To say it was rife with that particular group of players would shock me.”

Speaking on SEN, Dal Santo said he did not witness drug use during his career at the Saints.

“I didn’t see it. Yes, we drank ... but I didn’t see drugs. It wasn’t part of our culture with that particular playing group,” he said.

“It would be naive of me to say no one at St Kilda was doing it, but rife makes me think it’s the majority, that’s 20 to 25 players, I can’t see that.

“It’s annoying and frustrating and there’s no need for it to be brought up.”

Thomas coached St Kilda for 123 games and finished with a record of 63-59-1. He took the club to finals three years in a row between 2004 and 2006 before being sacked after an elimination final loss.