Former St Kilda superstar Nick Dal Santo has responded to ex-coach Grant Thomas’ claim that illicit drug use was “rife” within the playing group back in the early 2000s.
On Thomas’ podcast – Sam, Mike & Thommo – he said a player told him that it was going on at the club.
“I would’ve had suspicion of one or two, but no more than a week or so after I finish (with the Saints), one of the players, he told me what had actually been going on, which basically devastated me,” Thomas said on the podcast.
“He said that it (recreational drug use) was rife – a lot of them.
“Some of the players that were mentioned could’ve dropped me.”
Thomas went on SEN Breakfast this morning to further explain his comments
However, Dal Santo has rebuffed the claim, saying there’s no way recreational drug use would’ve been “rife” within the club.
“In some ways our reputation is going to be questioned and probably rightly so. If you’re going to listen to that, he says he was shocked by some of the names that were brought up,” Dal Santo told SEN Afternoons.
“Now, I would initially think people would look at me and think, he’s a pretty straight sort of guy, I put my hand up for absolutely drinking in a professional way – that was part of the culture, it’s obviously been squeezed out substantially since then.
“I will say I’m extremely disappointed that I’m going to get painted with the brush of possibly being one of those drug takers that you wouldn’t have thought did it.
“I would be shocked if it was “rife” with that playing group. I’m not calling Grant a liar, because if that’s the story he’s been told he has every right to tell it.
“But I look through some of the guys I grew up with since I was 17 and I’m still really close with a big group of them, to say it was rife with that particular group of players, would shock me.
“I didn’t see it. Yes, we drank ... but I didn’t see drugs. It wasn’t part of our culture with that particular playing group.
“It would be naive of me to say no one at St Kilda was doing it, but rife makes me think it’s the majority, that’s 20 to 25 players, I can’t see that.
“It’s annoying and frustrating and there’s no need for it to be brought up.”