Drug issue tipped to steel Suns
AFL: Brisbane Lions star Harris Andrews says Brayden Crossley’s drug controversy will galvanise the Gold Coast Suns in today’s derby clash.
Third-placed Brisbane are hot favourites to notch their eighth straight win in the clash against the dead-last Suns at the Gabba, but Andrews says complacency won’t be an issue.
He predicted the Suns to come out firing following the news on Thursday that Crossley had reportedly tested positive to cocaine and could face a four-year ban.
The Suns confirmed 19-year-old Crossley had produced an “adverse analytical finding” in a test. It reportedly was conducted after an NEAFL match in May.
Crossley has not played senior football this year, after 10 matches for the Suns in his 2018 debut season, but Andrews expects the teen to be firmly on the Suns’ minds.
“I am sure it will galvanise them, if anything,” he said.
“I imagine they will be extremely united and bringing their best game. They will be coming hard against us.”
Gold Coast chief executive Mark Evans is confident in the club’s off-field culture despite the positive drug test.
With ASADA investigating the matter, Crossley has hired legal counsel ahead of the return of his B-sample results.
In 2015, the Suns had to deal with Karmichael Hunt’s cocaine possession case and the emergence of photographs of Harley Bennell with lines of a white powder in a hotel room.
Evans said the club had made great strides off the field since that time.
“I think it’s been five years since an incident of this type, and some other insights would tell us that we’re on the right path with this,” he said.