Dillon backs drug codes

AFL chief calls urgent meeting with clubs

chief executive Andrew Dillon has told the league’s 18 bosses a newly structured illicit drugs code will not be a more punitive model as he defended the league’s dual drug codes on Thursday.

Dillon told the executives in an afternoon telephone hookup that the actions taken by doctors to remove players with drugs in their system from AFL games were strongly endorsed by medical experts.

He said it would be negligent of the AFL to knowingly allow players with drugs in their system to present on game day for a potential positive WADA test.

He said the decision to enceives sure no players had drugs in their system on match day safeguarded the health of players and prevented possible bans.

Dillon said it was a view the head of Australian sports integrity, David Sharp, shared.

Dillon told the bosses only a handful of players each year – less than five – were removed from AFL games by their club doctors after failing a club-arranged test.

He said the ability to remove players from play had always been part of the illicit drugs framework, making clear that most of those tests were done on a Monday or Tuesday.

Critically, Dillon made clear the policy is less than perfect and will undergo changes under the current review, with a new policy likely to kick in for next season.

But Melbourne captain Max Gawn believes there should be a greater penalty for players who receive a first strike under the AFL’s illicit drugs policy to deter use.

Following bombshell revelations that club doctors had been undertaking drug tests on players in the lead-up to matches, with the potential to pull any players who test positive out of matches and training, Gawn said he hadn’t dug into the AFL’s policy because “it is not in my circles”.

The AFL was unapologetic on Wednesday about doctors testing players, after federal MP Andrew Wilkie made allegations that included signed statements from ex-Melbourne club doctor Zeeshan Arain.

Under the current threestrike policy – which is being looked at by the AFL, the AFLPA and AFL Doctor’s Association – if a player receives one strike for failing a drug test, only the club doctor and player know within the club.

They are also hit with a $5000 fine and undergo counselling and targeted drugs testing.

Should a player self-report, they do not receive a strike.

On a second strike, the player is named publicly and reAFL a four-game ban, and a third strike leads to a 12-match suspension. Initially players were not named publicly until a third strike, but that was altered in 2016.

“The deterrent is not there or it is fading,” Gawn said on Triple M.

“So something needs to be bigger potentially on the first strike.”

Gawn said he was initially “taken aback, surprised and almost slightly angry” about the allegations before reading through the drugs policy and falling into support for the confidential nature between doctor and player.