Off the Wall
Written by: Jeff Wall
November 26th, 2007 09:42 AM
While Andrew Demetriou splurges a lazy $7 million on a Toorak mansion (what team did he play for?), and the NRL continues to fumble with a policy on “grapple†tackles, it has taken the newest team in the block to show the way in implementing a genuine no drugs policy.
The Gold Coast Titans, in their first season, delivered above expectations on the field, and drew crowds that put other clubs to shame. And now they are shaming other clubs – NRL and AFL alike – with the most rigorous anti-drugs stance in any football code.
Since August 1, the Gold Coast Titans have conducted around 130 in-house drug tests…….and that is 40 more than the YEARLY minimum required by the NRL.
By the time the 2008 season begins in March, the Titans will have conducted around 300 random tests in the off season. Players were tested after the club’s “Mad Monday†celebrations and presentation night. None returned positive tests.
The Titans over a twelve month period will conduct around 600 drug tests – and that is more than the total number of tests conducted by all 16 AFL clubs in recent seasons. And the Titan will do more drug tests than half a dozen NRL clubs combined – with the notable exception of the North Queensland Cowboys.
What the tough Titans drugs stance exposes is that the vast majority of AFL and NRL clubs are ignoring the one sure way of addressing the dug abuse menace in sport – random, year round testing.
Had the West Coast Eagles had it they would not have faced the public shame that has been their lot this year, and had the Newcastle Knights followed a rigorous random testing regime then Andrew Johns would have either been detected years before his public admission, or, more likely, he would have shaken off the habit years ago.
As Johns revealed in his biography, he knew the weak testing regime at the Knights – a regime followed until recently by a majority of NRL and AFL clubs – meant his chances of being caught were almost zero because he knew when tests were conducted.
The Titans are funding the random testing from their own resources, and make no apology for a rigorous random testing policy. One doubts if any player is caught he will get the benefit of the three strikes or a two strikes policies followed by the AFL and the NRL.
When Andrew Demetriou settles into his plush Toorak residence, and revisits the AFL “three strikes†policy, he would do well to have a chat with the Titans CEO, Michael Searle.
And instead of arguing the toss over “three strikes†or “two strikesâ€, the AFL CEO should insist that every club follow the Titans lead – and the NRL CEO, David Gallop, should do the same!
