One thing hit me in the wake of the Jack Ginnivan illicit drug fallout - AFL players have an image problem.
There is a perception from the public that the majority of players are drug users.
The players and their union - led by Paul Marsh and Patrick Dangerfield - urgently need to address it.
They have been too soft on drugs.
If you perused the online commentary responding to Ginnivan's admission that he used drugs at a hotel in January, you would've noticed that hardly anyone was surprised.
Here's a sample of the thousands of comments posted online.
"Go to any nightclub on a weekend and you will see AFL players from all clubs doing this."
"This isn't a bombshell; it's the least surprising thing I'll read today."
"Wow, he is one of 400 players using drugs."
"You wouldn't have a league if every AFL player was tested."
Why don't the clubs, players, the AFL, and the Players' Association see this as problematic?
I find it mortifying that a young player, with 12 months of education like Ginnivan, can be socialising with teammates at a pub after a pre-season camp and think it ok to duck off to the toilet to snort ketamine off a car key in a cubicle.
Yet, not one of his Collingwood teammates has been brave enough to condemn their teammates actions.
It is comical that they would've taken it more seriously if Ginnivan had walked into training smoking a cigarette or vaping.
Collingwood slapped him on the wrist with a two-game ban, and Marsh and the players' union have remained silent.
Don't worry about Ginnivan, though. In four weeks, he'll be off the front page, and we will have moved on to discussing how he is getting harshly treated by the umpires again.
Western Bulldogs player Bailey Smith is the AFL's most influential off-field player. His 352,000 Instagram followers is testament to that. Kids worship him, female fans adore him, and male fans want to be him.
Last year he put his hand up and admitted to being a drug user. Only a few months on, we, and his various sponsors, moved on.
St Kilda didn't care that Brad Crouch, while playing for Adelaide, was stung in a taxi carrying illegal drugs. They offered him a four-year deal soon after and made him one of their highest-paid players.
For some reason, there is a belief that these drugs aren't dangerous.
Never mind the lives that were ruined from the drug-fuelled culture at West Coast or cautionary stories such as Geelong premiership coach Mark 'Bomber' Thompson and All-Australian St Kilda defender Sam Fisher.
Collingwood pair Josh Thomas and Lachie Keeffe were banned for two years for testing positive for a prohibited substance which, they admitted, probably entered their system from taking illicit drugs.
At some point this week, just as they have done for the last 20 years, the AFL players' association will vow to support and educate players on illegal drugs.
It doesn't work. The illicit drug policy is not a deterrent.
This perception of AFL players bothers me. Until the game condemns illicit drug use the same way it would cigarette smoking, nothing will change.
Does the AFL have an illicit drugs problem? And what is your perception of players?