Eddie McGuire has thrown his support behind proposed changes to the AFL‘s illicit drugs policy, saying the league is moving further towards those of global competitions like the English Premier League and several American sports.
The Age reported on Tuesday night several changes being proposed, although they are going through a process of finalisation involving the AFL Players Association.
Players will now be asked to give hair samples rather than urine samples. McGuire believes that move is “quite good, because players have been taking the piss themselves for far too long”.
READ MORE: Powerful agent of Aussie stars rebrands after Epstein links
READ MORE: Slater’s enormous call on ‘old-school’ Raiders youngster
READ MORE: Surprise olive branch casts doubt over bitter ‘hatred’ claim
The AFL will also scrap its controversial three-strikes rule, and the policy will now impact AFLW players, too.
Last year McGuire pleaded with the AFL for months to get the policy updated, after Demons player Joel Smith was hit with a four-year ban when he tested positive on game day during the 2023 finals series.
Eddie McGuire. Getty
In March 2024, member for parliament Andrew Wilkie dropped a bombshell by using parliamentary privilege to allege AFL clubs had been rorting the three-strike system for years. He alleged clubs were hiding positive drug tests by pulling players from games so they couldn’t be tested by WADA.
McGuire is rapt to see changes finally being made.
“I can tell you that there has been a very, very elaborate deep dive at the AFL,” McGuire said on Nine’s Footy Classified on Tuesday night.
“And there has been a huge backlash from players who are sick of being tarnished with a drug blanket.
“The other one, which is the most significant one, is there’s a lot of pushback from clubs, from supporters, and members for players who are getting paid up to $1m a year not to play football because of drug indiscretions, and because some of these indiscretions are being covered by a catch-all.
“It’s a societal issue. So take all the shame out of it.
“What we need to do… is get to a position where if a player is hair tested, if they come up (positive) then they have to be rehabilitated, not punished. Really lean into the medical side of things, but you can’t play, because illicit drugs are generally performance enhancing drugs as well.
“We’ve seen players run the gauntlet way too much, and it’s not helping players. We are losing players.”
The Age reports a player will be banned if they return a second positive drug test now. But if a player self reports they will avoid recording a strike.
No player has ever been named or suspended by the AFL for recording a third strike previously.