{"id":343142,"date":"2023-10-31T21:10:18","date_gmt":"2023-10-31T22:10:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=343142"},"modified":"2023-10-31T23:01:28","modified_gmt":"2023-10-31T23:01:28","slug":"shocked-great-fears-extent-of-drug-use-in-afl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=343142","title":{"rendered":"'Shocked' great fears extent of drug use in AFL"},"content":{"rendered":"

Western Bulldogs and Richmond great Nathan Brown<\/a>\ufeff has predicted that "somewhere between 10-15 per cent" of AFL<\/a> players "dabble in recreational drugs" in the off-season.<\/p>\n

The\ufeff two-time All-Australian weighed in on illicit drug use in the AFL after incidents involving Joel Smith<\/a>, Elijah Hollands<\/a> and Jack Ginnivan<\/a> rocked the league this year.<\/p>\n

"It's really hard to know how widespread it is, but there's been three players who have been caught this year and you'd have to be naive to think they're the only three, so less than one per cent," Brown said on Nine's Today<\/em>.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> The gun NRL players your club could lose from November 1<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Grim pay accusations rock team's World Cup campaign<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Axed club launches audacious bid to re-enter NRL<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

"The Joel Smith one did surprise me. I was so surprised that somebody would test positive throughout the week leading up to a game very close to finals. I was shocked by that. Not a lot of things shock me in life, but that one really did."<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Ginnivan was in February hit with a two-game ban after vision emerged of him with an illicit substance in a hotel. He was a Collingwood player at the time and has since been traded to Hawthorn<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Smith\ufeff was in October provisionally suspended after he returned a positive test for cocaine on match day following Melbourne's round 23 clash with Hawthorn.<\/p>\n

And Hollands this week pleaded guilty to cocaine possession\ufeff in September, but avoided a criminal conviction. The 21-year-old, who was a Gold Coast player at the time and has since been traded to Carlton, was placed on a two-year good behaviour bond and ordered to attend a drug diversion program.<\/p>\n

"Is there an issue [in the AFL]?" Brown asked.<\/p>\n

"People talk about it's probably a lesser per cent than in society, but I think AFL players are held to a higher account than people at the same age in society. They're role models and they're working on million-dollar contracts, they've got massive sponsors at football clubs they've got to look after. So, is it an issue? It definitely is an issue\ufeff and it's one the AFL needs to look at.<\/p>\n

"But there's nobody testing positive to the anti-doping code, performance-enhancing drugs, so I guess that is a win for the AFL."<\/p>\n

\"Jack<\/p>\n

The Smith controversy is among a host of dramas that have shaken the Demons since the end of the season, along with several incidents involving Clayton Oliver<\/a> and Steven May's extraordinary comments at the club's best and fairest night<\/a>.<\/p>\n

"I doubt whether he plays round one next year," Brown said of Smith.<\/p>\n

"He has got a lot to prove to not only himself but his leadership group.<\/p>\n

"Now the leadership group come under fire, so Max Gawn, Christian Petracca, and these are really good guys, these are really good people\ufeff. Now people are questioning them [and saying], 'What sort of culture are you presenting to the Melbourne Football Club?', which two years ago was a great culture. They won a grand final.<\/p>\n

"But people are questioning Max Gawn and he's as good a person in football as you get. So, too, is Christian Petracca. I think that's unfair on them."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Western Bulldogs and Richmond great Nathan Brown\ufeff has predicted that "somewhere between 10-15 per cent" of AFL players "dabble in recreational drugs" in the off-season. […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":339662,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343142"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=343142"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343142\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":343146,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343142\/revisions\/343146"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/339662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=343142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=343142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=343142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}