Former Brisbane midfielder Rhys Mathieson has been banned from any level of football for three years after returning a positive test for performance-enhancing drugs.

And the 72-gamer has since responded to his sanction via podcast, detailing the “bizarre events” throughout the tiresome saga.

Mathieson, who played for the Lions from 2016 to 2022, tested positive last year while playing in the QAFL for Wilston Grange, according to the Herald Sun.

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The report also stated the banned substance Mathieson tested positive for was anabolic steroid oxymetholone.

It had previously been reported a former AFL player had tested positive for a drug banned both in and outside of competition in an “extremely rare” situation.

Positive tests for illicit substances are more common.

The former Lion did not play football at any level this year and will be unable to take the field again until August 10, 2027.

He will be allowed to return to training in June of that year.

But Mathieson, whose last game for Brisbane was in the 2022 preliminary final loss to Geelong, has been training as a bodybuilder since he last played football.

He has attracted a social media following in that time and documented that he added more than 10kg of muscle last year.

Mathieson detailed the saga on the Rip Through It podcast with former Lions teammate Mitch Robinson.

“Before we get started, by all means, I don’t want this to be a ‘feel sorry for me’ or an ‘I’m a victim in this’, because I take full responsibility of what happened and what went down — I just like to tell people my side of the story,” Mathieson said.

“That’s why I’d like to tell the story, because some things didn’t quite add up for me … just some bizarre events happened.”

Mathieson detailed his “passion for lifting” post-football, explaining that the measures he took to supplement that new focus in his life were separate to continuing his football career at local level.

“If (people) think ‘he did this to be better at local level’ … it is just not the case, because it will not help you … if people think it makes you a better player, it just doesn’t,” he said.

“What I was doing was taking measures to make sure I was able to play in a fair state of game — which I thought (I was), and turns out I wasn’t, judging off their (ASADA’s) tests.

Mathieson and Robinson recalled a comparison photo highlighting Mathieson’s post-footy bodybuilding transformation which was posted to the AFL’s social media accounts — a post that they believe set the wheels in motion.

“Suspicion of a photo,” Mathieson said when recalling the day that he was the only Wilston Grange player to be randomly tested by ASADA.

“You wouldn’t have thought (players at local level would be getting tested) … do something better than testing local football players, or at least be consistent in your testing and start doing it week-in-week-out.

“So, be a bit more consistent and not make it look (targeted).” Robinson chimed in: “It’s as targeted as it gets, mate.”

Mathieson added: “They got what they wanted in the end.”

Another part of the entire situation that didn’t sit well in Mathieson’s mind was the way ASADA went about attempting to seize his phone once it’d informed him — after months of silence about that initial test — that he’d returned a positive gameday result.

The former Lion also detailed the possibility for jail time to enter the picture.

“One night my girlfriend was calling me and they’re pounding this door down, and she was scared … turns out it was ASADA,” Mathieson recalled.

“They wouldn’t (tell her who they were) or why they’re there. So, again, I didn’t like that side of it. It’s way too much.

“And what they wanted back was my phone … it was potentially facing that (jail time) if I didn’t hand my phone over — you go to court, and if you don’t give your phone up, it’s (like) you’re hiding something, and if you don’t agree, it’s a potential fine — it can get up to $60,000, and then potential jail time.

“And I’m thinking ‘hang on a minute, I’m not a f**king criminal!’ All I do it have a new passion in bodybuilding and supplements and all this stuff, and I’m thinking like ‘these people are acting like I’m a full-blown criminal’.”

Mathieson did hand his phone over to the authorities, but doing it “made my gut turn a little bit”.

Former Brisbane Lions midfielder Rhys Mathieson posting on Instagram photos of his transformation. Picture: Rhys Mathieson InstagramSource: News Corp AustraliaBRISBANE, AUSTRALIA – MAY 09: Rhys Mathieson of the Lions celebrates after kicking a goal during the round eight AFL match between the Fremantle Dockers and the Brisbane Lions at The Gabba on May 09, 2021 in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/AFL Photos/via Getty Images)Source: Getty Images

Mathieson’s last year at Brisbane was in 2023 and as he tested positive to performance-enhancing substance within a year of retiring from the AFL, he came under the AFL’s anti-doping code.

He avoided a maximum four-year ban with his suspension reduced to three years as Mathieson admitted to intentionally using the substance for non-football reasons.

Mathieson spoke on his podcast, ‘Rip Through It’, last year about drug-testers coming to his parents’ house at 5am one day.

“So 5am in the morning, buzzer is going off at the front door. I don’t live at this residence no more, my mum and dad do,” Mathieson said.

“My poor mum is going, ‘What the hell. Why is there two guys buzzing our door at 5am?’ She’s getting a bit worried, a bit scared.

BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA – JULY 23: Rhys Mathieson of the Lions celebrates a goal during the 2022 AFL Round 19 match between the Brisbane Lions and the Gold Coast Suns at The Gabba on July 23, 2022 in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Russell Freeman/AFL Photos via Getty Images)Source: Getty ImagesWilston Grange player Rhys Mathieson in action. Picture: Clyde Scorgie/Brooke Sleep Media.Source: News Corp Australia

“(She) sends the old boy there, he’s in his jocks, has to throw on the dressing gown.

“He opens the door and he goes, ‘What do you blokes want?’ … at this hour it’s dark, he can barely see.

“And they’re like, ‘Anti-doping’. He just goes like, ‘Nah, not interested. And shuts it (the door). So he was thinking it was like an electricity company trying to sell him something.

“So then he goes and has his coffee and 30 minutes later they’re still there. He said, ‘Seriously, what do you guys want?’

“And that’s when they said this is anti-doping, we’re here to test Rhys Mathieson.”