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It had previously been reported a former AFL player had tested positive for a drug banned both in and outside of competition in an \u201cextremely rare\u201d situation.<\/p>\n
Positive tests for illicit substances are more common.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
He will be allowed to return to training in June of that year.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
He has attracted a social media following in that time, and documented that he added more than 10kg of muscle last year.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Mathieson\u2019s 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\u2019s anti-doping code.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Mathieson spoke on his podcast, \u2018Rip Through It\u2019, last year about drug-testers coming to his parents house at 5am one day.<\/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,\u201d Mathieson said.<\/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
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<\/p>\n
\u201c(She) sends the old boy there, he\u2019s in his jocks, has to throw on the dressing gown.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe 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 it (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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Brisbane Lions player Rhys Mathieson has been banned from playing any level of football for three years…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":248461,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,147520,64,63,689,55,639,60450,651,147515,3237,147513,10124,2105,9130,147521,677,50089,147516,147517,82581,701,16205,147522,6282,147519,1314,147512,91229,85,5338,147514,147518],"class_list":["post-248460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-anabolic-steroid-oxymetholone","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-boundary-throw-ins","tag-brisbane","tag-brisbane-lion-rhys-mathieson","tag-brisbane-lions","tag-electricity-company","tag-fremantle-dockers","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-gold-coast-suns","tag-media-bodybuilding-journey","tag-oceania","tag-performance-enhancing-drugs","tag-positive-drug-test","tag-positive-test","tag-preliminary-final-loss","tag-queensland","tag-rule-changes","tag-rule-tweaks","tag-russell-freeman","tag-sleep-media","tag-social-media","tag-social-media-bodybuilding","tag-social-media-posts","tag-sports","tag-the-gabba","tag-three-year-drug","tag-three-year-drug-ban"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248460","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=248460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248460\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}