“Happening for a long, long time”: Renowned sports doctor says “many clubs” complicit in 'off-the-books' drug testing

Renowned sports medico Dr. Peter Larkins says off-the-books drug testing of AFL players by clubs has been happening “for at least a decade”.

Following a speech to parliament by Federal MP Andrew Wilkie that prompted the AFL to come out and confirm the existence of a system that allows AFL players to test for illicit drugs prior to game day, Larkins is confident it’s not a problem confined to the Melbourne Football Club.

Wilkie cited statements from former Demons president Glen Bartlett and Dr. Zeeshan Arain that confirmed it occurred at Melbourne.

And despite the revelations proving a bombshell among footy fans, Larkins was not at all surprised.

“I’m sort of surprised it took this long to go public,” he admitted to SEN.

“The illicit drug policy is a confidential program that all 18 clubs have been using since 2005 and the self-reporting by a player where he can come to me if I’m the club doctor and say, ‘geez Doc, I think I went off track last night at my mate’s birthday’, that’s been around for at least a decade.

“So the intention there was to try to get behind why the player had taken cocaine, ecstasy, MDMA, whatever he had taken. This was the no-punishment program, the medical program…

“It’s been happening for a long, long time, not just at Melbourne. Melbourne has maybe had a few more and that needs to come out as to whether there were repeat offenders, but there’s been many clubs that have had a player come to them and be self-reported, be tested mid-week and they’re not allowed to play.

“This is where the ethical dilemma for the doctors is really the struggle. Then an excuse has to be a reason for withdrawing them from the weekend’s game. That’s often that they’re managed, pull a hamstring or have a back spasm.

“But at the end of the day, the doctor is required, confidentially, to protect the player’s medical information from the coach and from the AFL.”

As confirmed by AFL CEO Andrew Dillon on Wednesday, the league’s illicit drugs policy helps to keep players with illicit drugs in their system away from the footy field. It's a medical model, not one designed with punitive intentions.

Dillon defended the system as one “focused on player health and well-being”. He added that the system – which is different to the one governed by WADA and Sports Integrity Australia – was under review, with an outcome expected later this year.

Larkins believes there’s no clear solution and that compromises will have to be made from at least one side.

“The issue is do we have one code only? Because this is not the WADA code… this is the so called ‘welfare code’, which has intercepted people that have gone off track and put them on the straight and narrow, they’ve had counselling and drug rehabilitation and no one ever hears about it,” Larkins added.

“If we take it away, we don’t test for them, you don’t know about it, they’re going to turn up on a weekend and get tested potentially, and then we have the Joel Smith situation again.

“We’re not saying it’s not in society, but I don’t have the solution. This is going to be more discussions throughout the season.”

Listen to Dr Larkins on SEN's Dwayne's World below: