UPDATE
SEN Chief Reporter Sam Edmund has spoken to the AFL regarding the allegations, saying they're well aware that this happens:
“I’ve spoken to the AFL this morning, the league don’t deny this happens and in fact they admit that it does happen, but they say that it sits well within their medical model,” Edmund told SEN Breakfast.
“If they have a player who has a problem with illicit drugs, they have the ability to test them and make sure they don’t use them on match days and hold them out of play.
“Now, unless they have permission from the player to do otherwise, the league cites medical privacy and that no one would want it known that they might have an illicit drugs problem.
“They argue the idea that the club can say a player is out for two weeks with cocaine use is absolutely fanciful.
“The off the books claim, as raised in parliament, the league will today state that every test is off the books for Sports Integrity Australia and by extension WADA, except for matchday.
“Why? Because those two bodies don’t give a rats about illicit drug use any time outside of the day before a game through to the end of the event.
“It’s worth pointing out again that this is a volunteer policy that the players have agreed to in the first place. One no other code or Olympian volunteers to.”
EARLIER
Sydney CEO Tom Harley has commented on allegations of secret illicit drug tests used by clubs to evade detection on match day.
The report in the Herald Sun states Federal MP Andrew Wilkie told parliament about a signed statement from ex-Melbourne doctor Zeeshan Arain, making these allegations.
These allegations suggest players who have confessed to having taken drugs in the lead-up to a match were given these secret tests and told to “fake an injury” to avoid game-day WADA breaches.
Dr Arain was sacked by the Dees in 2020 after eight years as the club’s doctor.
Harley said he was as surprised as anyone to see the article on Tuesday night.
“It’s absolutely news to me,” Harley told SEN Breakfast.
“It would be unfair of me to comment, not having any background to it.
“I, like a lot of footy fans, read Michael Warner’s article last night and thought it was a bombshell claim and I was really surprised by that – certainly nothing that I’ve seen.
“I’ll be watching to see how this unfolds.
“My first response in reading it was as a reader and then you move pretty quickly to your club and the competition more broadly.
“I don’t have an answer for you right now, I’ll be waiting and seeing like everyone else.
“We adhere to the illicit drug policy of the AFL and WADA and that’s as far as I’m concerned strict compliance. Nothing further to add on that.”
Listen to Harley on SEN Breakfast below:
