Kane Cornes doesn’t feel much sympathy for Melbourne utility Joel Smith after The Herald Sun reported on Wednesday that the 27-year-old is facing a ban of two or more years for testing positive for cocaine.
Smith tested positive for cocaine in his system on a game day - which is considered performance-enhancing. The positive test occurred after Melbourne defeated Hawthorn by 27 points in Round 23 of last season.
The swingman reportedly received communication from Sports Integrity Australia on Tuesday which is believed to have found him guilty of taking a performance-enhancing drug.
It’s believed that Smith recently fronted a Sports Integrity Australia panel to try and argue that his use of the drug wasn’t performance-enhancing. After that was knocked back, Cornes says the belief is that the Demon will appeal the lengthy ban.
“There was some hope I think from the Melbourne and Smith camp that for non-performance-enhancing drugs, if you can prove that it was taken not for those reasons, that you can get away with a three-month sanction - which would have expired today,” Cornes said on SEN Breakfast.
“But Smith is said to have had correspondence from Sports Integrity Australia who have said, ‘You’re facing two years’.
“It will be up to him to appeal, and the belief is that he will appeal.”
Following Smith’s positive test coming to light in October, Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin told SEN that he was “incredibly angry and frustrated” upon hearing of the news with the issue one of many the Demons faced in the off-season.
Cornes originally criticised Smith for using the drug in the lead-up to an important game ahead of a finals run, particularly as he labelled Smith a “fringe-ish type player”, and he still doesn’t have a lot of sympathy for the 27-year-old’s situation.
“I can understand that anger (shown by Goodwin) … I think it's alarming really that a player could (test positive on game day),” Cornes said.
“With the timeline, I'm not an expert on how long these drugs sit in your system. But a quick Google search will tell you a couple of days.
“The timeline doesn't add up, that you could sit there on a (in the week) before a game on a Sunday and be doing this.
“Look, I'm hardline on these things. I don't have a lot of sympathy for Joel Smith.”
While Smith will likely appeal his ban, Cornes isn’t expecting him to be available for Melbourne in the immediate future as he’ll now have to wait for the process to play out.
“The thing about this and Sports Integrity Australia and anything in relation to a drug violation, it takes time,” Cornes said.
“He may appeal and he would, otherwise his career is gone. He's about to turn 28 facing two years.
“But he'll be stood down until the appeal is heard and who knows how long that would take? These things take forever.”
Smith is facing a maximum four-year ban as a result of the positive test.
