Former Collingwood star Gavin Crosisca admitted to being addicted to drugs during his playing career. Picture: Ian Currie. Source: Herald Sun
THE revelation a premiership-winning team gave up illicit drugs as part of its commitment to winning the flag first raised the red flag.
How can the AFL illicit drugs policy, and specifically its drug-testing procedures, not be detecting players?
How are the players escaping the testing?
How odd is it the players agreed to the testing for illicit drugs, a world leading program they say, and then hop right into them?
We're not talking about all players, of course, but enough of them to prompt Collingwood to initiate today's drug summit, believing illicit drug use among AFL players was now a matter of urgency.
The Magpies should be applauded for their stance.
They got kicked in the bum yesterday when it was revealed at least four players self-reported drug use to the AFL last year - and for that they got a back page of the Herald Sun - but they at least are fighting the fight.
There is an element of self-preservation admitting they had the problem before their problem was exposed.
Fact or fiction, stories of drug taking among players are common
But clubs laughing at Collingwood's expense should not be naive. If it is happening at Collingwood, it is happening elsewhere.
Anyway, back to the premiership-winning club.
It knew it had a major problem, and, driven by the players, it addressed the matter.
In a move away from traditional mission statements, the team met midway through the year - every player on the list - and a show of hands is understood to have found about a dozen players admitted they took drugs.
Then came the declaration: No more drugs for the remainder of the season.
It worked.
Not being cute, but if you listened to and accepted the AFL's version of events over the past decade of how many players take drugs, and how wonderful their drugs policy was, then drug taking was the least of the league's issues.
Finally, just as they have accepted that tanking is an agenda item, the AFL, via the Magpies, has put drug taking squarely on the agenda.
Fact or fiction, stories of drug taking among players are common.
Clubs receive calls every Monday morning, and newspapers aren't far behind. Social media is out of control.
This is not a hunting expedition on AFL players, for it is fact drug-taking is common among young people, and footballers are just that: young people.
And being rich and famous and buffed, and having the necessary self-belief, just about makes them Exhibit A for drug experimentation.
There are countless anecdotes - most recently about a group of young players from one club partaking at a popular music festival on the coast.
What about a few years ago, when, on a footy trip, one player asked who hadn't taken drugs - not who had - and only four players from more than 30 put up their hands?
One recently retired player said drug taking was commonplace at his club for at least five years.
And then there's the horror story of three former players from the one club battling drug addictions.
Add real names such as Chris Mainwaring, Gavin Crosisca and Ben Cousins - one of them is dead and the other two could have been.
Today's summit is a watershed moment.
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