{"id":358839,"date":"2024-01-10T05:54:10","date_gmt":"2024-01-10T06:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=358839"},"modified":"2024-01-10T08:02:28","modified_gmt":"2024-01-10T08:02:28","slug":"new-twist-in-demons-case-puts-career-on-knifes-edge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=358839","title":{"rendered":"New twist in Demon's case puts career on knife's edge"},"content":{"rendered":"

M\ufeffelbourne<\/a> forward Joel Smith is expected to fight a likely two-year ban from Sports Integrity Australia after he tested positive to cocaine after the Demons' round 23 match against Hawthorn in 2023.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Age<\/a> has reported that the 27-year-old will remain on his provisional suspension after Sports Integrity Australia found him guilty in a pre-Christmas hearing.<\/p>\n

He has been provisionally suspended since October 10\ufeff and there were previous hopes that he would be able to rejoin Demons training on Wednesday after serving three months.<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> \ufeffStar's recall adds mystery to Aussie selection battle<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Origin gun snubs rivals to sign 'richest ever' Knights deal<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Labuschagne endorses potential Smith move<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

However, Smith's appeal case is struggling due to the lack of any AFL-approved drug treatment programs that he can undertake to reduce his likely ban.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"The AFL advises that the matter involving Joel Smith of the Melbourne Football Club being investigated by Sport Integrity Australia (SIA) under the Australian Football Anti-Doping Code is ongoing," AFL spokesperson Jay Allen told The Age<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Joel<\/p>\n

"Joel remains provisionally suspended and as such he is not permitted to participate in Melbourne's pre-season training when it recommences in the coming days.<\/p>\n

"Due to the ongoing nature of the anti-doping process the AFL will not comment further at this time."<\/p>\n

Smith tested positive to cocaine and its metabolite, benzoylecgonine, on the day of Melbourne's round 23 match against Hawthorn, which the Demons won by 27 points.<\/p>\n

His results were made public on October 10, with Smith notified on the same day.<\/p>\n

\"AFL<\/p>\n

Smith is the first player in the league to test positive to a drug listed as a "substance of abuse" in the 2021 World Anti-Doping agency\ufeff code.<\/p>\n

It comes after Demons coach Simon Goodwin admitted in late 2023 that he hasn't spoken to Smith\ufeff since the incident, as the club faced questions surrounding their culture.<\/p>\n

"I haven't spoken to Joel. I am going to let that process play out because I have a level of anger, of frustration towards it," Goodwin said on SEN radio in November 2023.<\/p>\n

\"(From<\/p>\n

"I can only go by how I feel and when I first heard, I was incredibly angry, frustrated, to think that potentially we have a player in round 23 on the eve of a finals series not doing everything possible to help the success of our footy team.<\/p>\n

"I can only imagine that same feeling would be permeating through our supporter base."<\/p>\n

The Demons have endured a tumultuous off-season so far, headlined by star midfielder Clayton Oliver's early exit from the club's training camp early last month<\/a>, following intense\ufeff trade speculation<\/a> as well as a brief hospital visit<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

M\ufeffelbourne forward Joel Smith is expected to fight a likely two-year ban from Sports Integrity Australia after he tested positive to cocaine after the Demons' […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":358841,"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\/358839"}],"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=358839"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358839\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":358843,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358839\/revisions\/358843"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/358841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=358839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=358839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=358839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}