Rumour AFL Players Faking Mental Illnesses To Avoid Drug Tests?

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Because a standard testing regime is part of their profession and there is a global policy for professional sport.

Entertainers, Journos and politicians don't have that same microscope because there isn't the ASADA / WADA scrutiny. The media love it when they can find a Grant Denyer, Andrew O'Keefe style story but they're only subject to an internal company policy to deal with.

Your idealism is fair but the world isn't fair so professional sports people need to deal with that.

Illicit drug testing is voluntary by players and completely separate from the WADA code.
 
Jan 15, 2006
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Illicit drug testing is voluntary by players and completely separate from the WADA code.
Yeah, probably poor phrasing by me.

My point was trying to be where there is such ASADA / WADA scrutiny on drugs, which goes far and beyond anything any of professions listed, other drug use could be expected to be going to be further scrutinised under the policy.

The AFL has a brand to protect and part of that to make sure that they are giving the perception to the public that they're also mindful of the health and criminal risk of using or possessing illicit drugs.

And that the AFLPA agrees to it suggests they also see some value of the regime.

I'm not trying to make the argument that the testing is effective or that the regime does anything at all to achieve the objectives it attempts to present to the public. Only that I don't think anyone should be shocked that sportsmen come under more scrutiny than other professions.
 

HawkMongrel

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The AFLPA has a lot to answer for here IMO.

In their crusade to protect the players and their interests at all costs, they’ve created an environment where now anybody claiming a mental health issue, legitimate or not, will immediately be suspected of being a drug user.

And there’s form here so people have a right to be suspicious. Franklin, Mitch Clark, that Pies player’s mysterious mid-season USA sojourn some years back, and now Steven who it seems has been publicly spotted being a rather naughty boy.

Where is the AFLPA in all of this. Is their purpose to ensure that all AFL players are protected from scrutiny, or that the good ones are protected from this crap by the bad eggs? Or are there no good ones left?
 

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The AFLPA has a lot to answer for here IMO.

In their crusade to protect the players and their interests at all costs, they’ve created an environment where now anybody claiming a mental health issue, legitimate or not, will immediately be suspected of being a drug user.

And there’s form here so people have a right to be suspicious. Franklin, Mitch Clark, that Pies player’s mysterious mid-season USA sojourn some years back, and now Steven who it seems has been publicly spotted being a rather naughty boy.

Where is the AFLPA in all of this. Is their purpose to ensure that all AFL players are protected from scrutiny, or that the good ones are protected from this crap by the bad eggs? Or are there no good ones left?

The AFL missed their chance to take a stand against drugs, now they have to live with it. They have no credibility on this topic.
 
Jan 15, 2006
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The AFLPA has a lot to answer for here IMO.

In their crusade to protect the players and their interests at all costs, they’ve created an environment where now anybody claiming a mental health issue, legitimate or not, will immediately be suspected of being a drug user.

And there’s form here so people have a right to be suspicious. Franklin, Mitch Clark, that Pies player’s mysterious mid-season USA sojourn some years back, and now Steven who it seems has been publicly spotted being a rather naughty boy.

Where is the AFLPA in all of this. Is their purpose to ensure that all AFL players are protected from scrutiny, or that the good ones are protected from this crap by the bad eggs? Or are there no good ones left?

Did I miss something? He had a drink driving charge and doesn't mind a beer. I wasn't aware of anything further than that in the public sphere?
 

SterlingArcher

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I don't know why the AFL has to take `a stand` against illicit drugs. We all whinge when the AFL lectures us on other social topics but then when it comes to naughty drugs we want them to be the leaders??

The brand and players will always come first and second. Don't care what the AFL says about drugs either way. Drug takers aren't inherently bad people. We don't need to go off suspending everyone who does it. If it's affecting their livelihoods then it's different and at the very least management should be put in place to ensure further damage isn't done. If ASADA/WADA aren't finding the positives for illicit drugs that fall under the category of PEDs (cocaine, positives on gameday - maybe more?) then I`m not real fussed tbh.
 

Monument Hills

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An additional point I haven't seen thrown around much on this is the AFL needing to protect their brand also to attract the best young footballers and athletes to their comp. I grew up over here in the west with Ben Cousins and his mates and saw the havoc they were creating during their heyday which was all kept under wraps by their bosses and the local media who faffed over them. Now, Cousins and his mate Gardiner brought it with them into the club when drafted, but many of the players who got on their train didn't. Now down the track we have one bloke trying to burn houses down and in and out of court, one dead from an OD, another literally sitting in Bali crocheting 'cause that's all his brain can handle, others who took years to get over the effects luckily getting on with their lives, and of course Ben 'the human headline' Cousins.

With the AFL taking kids off their parents on draft night shortly after graduating high school and in many cases, sending them around the country into the hands and houses of other players who are also 20 something kids themselves, I would think the last thing the AFL needs is concerned parents making public comment about not wanting their kid at one or more of the clubs in fear of them picking up the bad habits of senior players/their future mentors (unless they're also into swimming).

Yes, a lot of kids take various drugs these days, but I would expect that a large number of AFL draftees come in fairly clean having busted their asses to do everything necessary fitness and otherwise to make the cut with good combine results. I don't think it helps the AFL in any way to have a free-for-all attitude some in the media have suggested to recreational drugs when trying attract the best kids into the AFL system.
 
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Monument Hills

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Its an interesting OH&S question : is it the environment (money, time , adulation) or is it the personality types that create issues?
Good question. There will always be naughty boys that do naughty things. But we also have the Bancrofts. Young guys, doing stuff they normally wouldn't just to fit in and impress their leaders/heros/mentors and getting themselves in all sorts of trouble
 

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Dan Moody

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Bancroft was 25 when he did the sandpaper shuffle,he grew up playing cricket he knew what’s right and wrong and blames other people .

Bancroft's a filthy *en snitch, and I'm no huge fan of Warner or Smith. At age 25, that weak prick caved into something he knew was wrong. If you're not man enough at that age, to refuse to do something that goes against your own integrity then you're a gutless turd. I hope he never plays for Australia again after seeing his pissweak interview
 

Fabab

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Bancroft's a filthy ****en snitch, and I'm no huge fan of Warner or Smith. At age 25, that weak prick caved into something he knew was wrong. If you're not man enough at that age, to refuse to do something that goes against your own integrity then you're a gutless turd. I hope he never plays for Australia again after seeing his pissweak interview
Great post mate.
 

ChesterTreasure

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It's such a pity that the mental health card was not available in the 90's.
Imagine the difference it would have made - I mean it is helping so many current players according to the AFL and the Players Association.
Just think, those West Coast Eagles players that disgraced the club would now be upstanding citizens instead of the basket cases they ended up as - apparenly !!!
 

TwiggleyFanClub

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Should rewrite the policy.

Having mental health issues shouldn't prevent tests from occurring in the first place.

But it should come into account during the "punishment" stage if you do get caught.

So if you have health issues or not - you will get caught. You just might have a different outcome based on your situation.

And should require corroboration from a psychologist with proof that the player is currently under treatment.
 

Topkent

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Illicit drug testing is voluntary by players and completely separate from the WADA code.

Yeah it seems like a tonne of people don't understand this yet. The AFL can't introduce a strict 3 strikes your out policy because they players will just refuse out of competition testing.
 

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