{"id":248372,"date":"2025-10-29T09:38:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T09:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/248372\/"},"modified":"2025-10-29T09:38:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T09:38:13","slug":"former-brisbane-player-rhys-mathieson-banned-for-three-years-after-testing-positive-to-steroids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/248372\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Brisbane player Rhys Mathieson banned for three years after testing positive to steroids"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rhys Mathieson \u2014 the former Brisbane<\/a> cult figure who transformed his body after he retired<\/a> from the AFL \u2014 has been hit with a huge doping ban.<\/p>\n

Mathieson, who was known as \u2018the Beast\u2019 or \u2018Beast Mode\u2019 or \u2018the Barometer\u2019 during his playing days, has been found guilty of using performance-enhancing drugs and suspended for three years.<\/p>\n

Mathieson departed the Lions at the end of 2023<\/a> despite having a year to run in his contract. He then played for Wilston Grange in the QAFL.<\/p>\n

Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today \"Download<\/a><\/p>\n

Last year, however, the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) came calling<\/a>, and Mathieson did not play for the team this year because he was provisionally suspended.<\/p>\n

It has since been revealed he tested positive for a banned substance in 2024.<\/p>\n

According to a News Corp report<\/a>, the anabolic steroid oxymetholone was discovered in the positive test.<\/p>\n

\"RhysRhys Mathieson was a cult figure in his playing days. Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n

Now Mathieson can\u2019t feature in an Australian Rules game at any level until August 10, 2027. If wants to continue playing, he is allowed to start training with a club in June of that year.<\/p>\n

Mathieson last featured at AFL level in a 2022 preliminary final.<\/p>\n

His career started in 2016 but he only managed 72 games, and struggled to cement himself in the team at AFL level.<\/p>\n

After his time in the AFL, he regularly posted pictures of himself on social media working out at the gym<\/p>\n

He suddenly became unrecognisable from his days as an AFL player and found himself being sponsored by a sports supplements company.<\/p>\n

Last year, his AFL mate Mitch Robinson (also a former Lions player) lashed ASADA after the drug testers made a surprise 5am call to Mathieson\u2019s parents\u2019 house.<\/p>\n

And Robinson was outraged when he found out that ASADA had actually tested Mathieson.<\/p>\n

\"MathiesonMathieson and his good mate Mitch Robinson in the gym. Credit: Instagram<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter Matho blew up on social media this year for his gains, the Barometer just happened to be \u2018randomly\u2019 drug tested by ASADA (in local footy) … Embarrassing for them, he came back squeaky clean \ud83d\ude02,\u201d Robinson said on social media.<\/p>\n

He then said on his podcast with Mathieson: \u201cSomething that I haven\u2019t seen in my whole life time is target testing in f****** local footy.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople don\u2019t realise you\u2019re in the gym two hours a day, you\u2019re carb loading, all you eat is tuna and rice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mathieson admitted he was shocked by the visit from the drug testers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am confused,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my whole time in football with all my teammates I\u2019ve played with \u2014 I was there for eight years (at Brisbane) \u2014 they always talk about (the testers) rocking up to your house.<\/p>\n

\u201cNever seen it … you guys never do it.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo 5am in the morning, buzzer is going off at the front door. I don\u2019t live at this residence no more, my mum and dad do.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy poor mum is going, \u2018What the hell. Why is there two guys buzzing our door at 5am?\u2019 She\u2019s getting a bit worried, a bit scared.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Dad) opens the door and he goes, \u2018What do you blokes want?\u2019 … at this hour it\u2019s dark, he can barely see.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd they\u2019re like, \u2018Anti-doping\u2019. He just goes like, \u2018Nah, not interested. And shuts (the door). So he was thinking it was like an electricity company trying to sell him something.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo then he goes and has his coffee and 30 minutes later they\u2019re still there. He said, \u2018Seriously, what do you guys want?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that\u2019s when they said this is anti-doping, we\u2019re here to test Rhys Mathieson.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mathieson said testers eventually caught up with him at a game where he was tested.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have an issue with this because they say it\u2019s all random … and normally (when they turn up to a match) they test three or four blokes from my team and the other team, this day it was just me.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like the way they went about was really wrong. And whoever complained, stuff you.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u2018Frank chat\u2019 with AFL executives all over in just 30 minutes<\/p>\n

2 min read<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Former AFL cult figure unrecognisable after wild transformation<\/p>\n

1 min read<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rhys Mathieson \u2014 the former Brisbane cult figure who transformed his body after he retired from the AFL…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":248373,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,588,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-248372","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-sport","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}