Whitehead and pain-killers

[Frodo]

I have mixed views on this topic.
Certainly if playing with a serious injury numbed by anasthaetic caused a premature end to his career then he is due compensation unless he agreed to the risk.
But Dermie Brereton reckoned he played the last 5 years with painkillers for every match. That seems to be abusing the body.
It they regulated it to 2 panadol maximum would that end half the footy players careers at once? Is playing with painkillers really the norm?

 

[Mudholian]

I would have thought Whitehead has a very good case. If successful it would establish the precedent that pain killers covering an injury are performance enhancing drugs in every respect. They allow an athlete to perform at a level he wouldn't otherwise be able to reach and they have the potential to lead to serious injury.

The argument that it is prescribed medication which simply restores the athlete's usual level of performance is weak by comparison, especially if we are talking about masking the effects of injury which would prevent the player playing without treatment.

We are not talking about headache tablets here - the argument was that this set the payer on a course which wrecked his career.

Mud