Rumour: Drugs-Mental Health-16 players at one club

Remove this Banner Ad

Apples said:
I understand that the mental health of the players is an enormous priority for clubs and the AFL and that mental health issues must be addressed, but when players begin to rort the system then the AFL must act.
Click to expand...

I reckon it goes further than that. If 40% of the players are claiming mental health issues ...

... no need to suspect them of rorting the system. Take it seriously. That statistic justifies an intervention whatever the reason - as it would in any workplace.

The AFL should send in a medical auditor into the club and consider taking the pressure off them by having them not play for points until it’s sorted out.
 

Log in to remove this ad.

Timmy from Thomastown said:
Call me a cycnic but mental health issues in many cases are caused by the use of illicit drugs in the first place.
Click to expand...

Not cynic.

Pretty sure there’s evidence based research to back that up for some substances.
 
Mkcaptain said:
From what it sounds like if you're suffering a mental illness then you're exempt from testing all together. According to Robbo we experienced double figure postive tests in 2016.

Therefore from simple logic the club probably isn't us
Click to expand...

Robbo admitted he made that up, didn’t he?
 
Timmy from Thomastown said:
Whats wrong with saying hi to a fellow Bigfooty poster and calling him buddy?:)
Click to expand...
Nothing at all.
Like when Lance was eating cereal and Vincent Vega was calling him because Mia was over dosing.
 
Last edited:
Ilksy said:
Robbo admitted he made that up, didn’t he?
Click to expand...

He may have admitted something around that, but the story was legit and it’s the numbers that were likely out. The bloke that passed the info on no longer works for Collingwood although he’s still in the system...

If rumour is fact given past history I pretty much expect it to be us and will be pleasantly surprised if/ when the club is named if it isn’t us. I also expect that if it is us it will be released after JLT 2 right before round 1 around the time an update on Murray is provided.

In terms of self diagnosing mental health issues it would be a pretty simple adjustment to the code, IMO. Any player that reports illicit drug use due to mental health issues is immediately stood down for 6 weeks. If your mental health is such an issue that you need to turn to drugs over professional help, friends or family then you aren’t in the right state of mind to be involved in professional sport. For me it’s disgusting that this could be exploited with the level of training these guys get on both drugs and mental health!
 

(Log in to remove this ad.)

Baltimore Jack said:
Apparently there was a line in a story yesterday in the Murdoch press along the lines of "Don't worry Collingwood fans its not your club"
I can't confirm because I don't read Murdoch crap
Click to expand...

I think it was a jurno responding to Ed’s comments about it.

I saw the same comment

For what it’s worth I heard it was GWS from a jurno mate of mine. Don’t know how accurate though


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app
 
Scodog10 said:
He may have admitted something around that, but the story was legit and it’s the numbers that were likely out. The bloke that passed the info on no longer works for Collingwood although he’s still in the system...

If rumour is fact given past history I pretty much expect it to be us and will be pleasantly surprised if/ when the club is named if it isn’t us. I also expect that if it is us it will be released after JLT 2 right before round 1 around the time an update on Murray is provided.

In terms of self diagnosing mental health issues it would be a pretty simple adjustment to the code, IMO. Any player that reports illicit drug use due to mental health issues is immediately stood down for 6 weeks. If your mental health is such an issue that you need to turn to drugs over professional help, friends or family then you aren’t in the right state of mind to be involved in professional sport. For me it’s disgusting that this could be exploited with the level of training these guys get on both drugs and mental health!
Click to expand...
Even it isn't us, it is very telling that each time drugs is a news time, we expect it to be about us.
On topic of the adjustment, it is a fine line ( no pun intended ). What is the public going to be told? That he has mental health issues? Then the public will automatically assume each mental health case is in fact an drug issue. Not sure whether that stigma will do the real sufferers any good.
I don't see why illicit drugs should be tolerated in the first place. If players are smart enough to fake mental health , they are smart enough to understand the consequences of getting caught.
And if people with mental health issues can't make the right decisions regarding illicit drugs, perhaps a professional sports environment is not the place for them to start with. They are welcome to try though.
 
jonbe54 said:
Then only caveat is medicinal Cannibis which is used for depression amongst other things.
Click to expand...

Medicinal cannabis has THC levels so low it'd hardly register. It's self medicating via non-medicinal (read illicit) cannabis that's the issue.
 
76woodenspooners said:
Not cynic.

Pretty sure there’s evidence based research to back that up for some substances.
Click to expand...

While there are some behaviours that are exacerbated by taking certain drugs, there is nothing really definitive to confirm which comes first, the mental health issues or the drug taking given it's nigh on impossible to retrospectively confirm if a drug taker already had an undiagnosed mental health issue prior to consumption of drugs.
 
jackcass said:
Medicinal cannabis has THC levels so low it'd hardly register. It's self medicating via non-medicinal (read illicit) cannabis that's the issue.
Click to expand...

Canabis is only a matter time it be Legal for any sort of use
 
76woodenspooners said:
I reckon it goes further than that. If 40% of the players are claiming mental health issues ...

... no need to suspect them of rorting the system. Take it seriously. That statistic justifies an intervention whatever the reason - as it would in any workplace.

The AFL should send in a medical auditor into the club and consider taking the pressure off them by having them not play for points until it’s sorted out.
Click to expand...

Wait a minute '76woodensponners', you're saying that 40% of players at an AFL club are claiming mental illness and that's not rorting the system? Having suffered through my own demons and having come out the other side, I am not one to minimise the impact of depression or mental health issues generally. But if 40% of players at my club were claiming mental illness I'd draw a couple of conclusions:
* either my club is a total basket case with no support available and a culture of denial
or
* players are playing the system in order to avoid detection.

If 16 Collingwood players had declared mental illness I'd call total bullshit and would be totally ashamed of them for being so bloody manipulative.
 
Apples said:
Wait a minute '76woodensponners', you're saying that 40% of players at an AFL club are claiming mental illness and that's not rorting the system? Having suffered through my own demons and having come out the other side, I am not one to minimise the impact of depression or mental health issues generally. But if 40% of players at my club were claiming mental illness I'd draw a couple of conclusions:
* either my club is a total basket case with no support available and a culture of denial
or
* players are playing the system in order to avoid detection.

If 16 Collingwood players had declared mental illness I'd call total bullshit and would be totally ashamed of them for being so bloody manipulative.
Click to expand...
Very well put.

I’d be stunned if it was Collingwood, as the media would fall over themselves to name us.
Never mind round 1, each sewer dweller would eat their way through the flotsam to be the first to say Collingwood.

:poo:

(As an aside, Essendon would surprise me too, same reason. Media rats would salivate to name them.)
 
Apples said:
But if 40% of players at my club were claiming mental illness I'd draw a couple of conclusions:

* either my club is a total basket case with no support available and a culture of denial
or
* players are playing the system in order to avoid detection.
Click to expand...

Or
* The workplace is toxic (I’m not an AFL footy player, but I’ve worked in toxic workplaces where at least 40% of the staff would be suffering some kind of work related mental illness. And often it would lead to substance abuse)

Wait a minute '76woodensponners', you're saying that 40% of players at an AFL club are claiming mental illness and that's not rorting the system?
Click to expand...

No, I’m not saying that.

I’m saying that it may be rorting the system (likely) or it may be a toxic workplace (less likely, but possible). But no need to worry which of those options it is, the outcome is the same - do a medical audit and keep the team playing but don’t have them play for points.

If the players are rorting the system - then they don’t play for points (thus don’t qualify for finals, etc)

If the workplace is toxic and the players are genuinely suffering mental illness, then they can still play footy if that’s part of the treatment, but it takes the pressure of winning off them. And the club (toxic workplace) goes nowhere until they sort it out.

Having suffered through my own demons and having come out the other side, I am not one to minimise the impact of depression or mental health issues generally.

If 16 Collingwood players had declared mental illness I'd call total bullshit and would be totally ashamed of them for being so bloody manipulative.
Click to expand...

Sure.

But if it came out that Carlton was a toxic work environment, the players were under a lot of stress because they didn’t understand what was expected of them, they had a volatile coach who was incompetent, set totally unrealistic expectations, never took feedback from players or others around him, always blamed others, offered no direction or strategy ... leading to the players becoming despondent, a feeling of helplessness dominating the playing group, many suffering insomnia, some turning to substance abuse, some turning to domestic violence, a lucky few get a transfer, some just quit the club and the competition before their time (in much the same way as Martin, Marsh and Karnezis did at Collingwood) ...

... and if it came out that this what was behind Carlton’s abysmal performance over the last few seasons, I reckon most folks would consider it legit and not put it in the ‘rort’ category.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

domus
One Small Ray of Light
Replies
14
Views
553
domus
domus
jimmy35
There’s Only One Darcy Moore but…
Replies
9
Views
855
The Phantom
The Phantom
magpielicious
Player Barometer
Replies
8
Views
381
Sea fog
S
live fast pieyoung
Memories of Sweet 16
Replies
19
Views
872
Capital Magpie
Capital Magpie
The Royal Sampler
NaCl ^16 🧂🧂
19 20 21 22 23
Replies
557
Views
32K
MooreTreloar
MooreTreloar
Pie eyed
Player Watch Player Sponsorship deadline
Replies
1
Views
253
foreigner
foreigner
DIDAIC0S
2023 DVD box set problems please check round 16 and 19 discs
2
Replies
26
Views
1K
DIDAIC0S
DIDAIC0S

Remove this Banner Ad

Back
Top