told Code Sports<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u201cYou\u2019ve got to be bigger than the individual making a comment.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause what you\u2019ve done now is gone tit for tat, and I wouldn\u2019t have thought that\u2019s the right way to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Malthouse, who holds the AFL\u2019s all-time games coached record, \ufeffsuggested Docherty was also in the wrong. <\/p>\n
But the three-time premiership coach thinks the beloved Blue\u2019s standing at the club should make his comments \u201credeemable\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe cool light of dawn, you get up and think \u2018that wasn\u2019t the best thing to say, regardless of whether I thought it was going to be on record or not … yes, the club\u2019s been great to me\u2019,\u201d Malthouse said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re just giving a different version to a different group and probably the frustrations of the game, everything is out the window and you\u2019re able to think a bit better.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not totally convinced they\u2019ve (the club) got it right.\u201d<\/p>\n
AFL\u2019S ILLICIT DRUGS POLICY REVAMPED<\/p>\n
The AFL will abolish \u2018strikes\u2019 and move towards a more detailed, regular hair-testing model as part of its updated illicit drugs policy. <\/p>\n
The Herald Sun and Age reported the looming changes to the illicit drugs policy, which is still yet to be finalised. <\/p>\n
The policy is also set to include AFLW players for the first time since the league was formed in 2017. <\/p>\n
Players that submit one positive sample will be removed from the game and put into a medical slipstream, where they\u2019ll be made to undergo management and education programs. <\/p>\n
‘Weird time’: Merrett on trade period | 01:21<\/p>\n
Those players will remain stood down under they meet the necessary requirements through consultation with the AFL\u2019s medical experts.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s believed players will need to make a financial contribution to their treatment in some cases as part of the policy.<\/p>\n
The new code, which could be finalised with the AFL Players\u2019 Association within weeks, would see players get hair tested multiple times in season and replace urine testing. <\/p>\n
It will provide more detailed information, as hair testing can detect substances up to three months in advance, whereas urine testing only shows up positive results for a few days. <\/p>\n
Under the current model, two \u2018strikes\u2019 \u2014 or positive drug tests \u2014 results in the automatic suspension of a player. Though a player that self-reports can avoid recording a strike.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mick Malthouse has weighed in on the drama between Carlton and Sam Docherty. Plus details on the league\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":463393,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,264109,64,63,55,639,264229,264226,264233,262794,264228,264225,1127,10145,264111,264223,264221,264222,264232,264224,264230,50079,14272,85,264231,16679,264227,25581],"class_list":{"0":"post-532284","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-arrest-details-revealedafl","10":"tag-au","11":"tag-australia","12":"tag-australian-football-league","13":"tag-australianfootballleague","14":"tag-blues-drama","15":"tag-club-event","16":"tag-club-function","17":"tag-dan-gorringe","18":"tag-education-programs","19":"tag-ex-blues-skipper","20":"tag-fox-footy","21":"tag-garry-lyon","22":"tag-hawks-arrest-details","23":"tag-illicit-drugs-policy","24":"tag-looming-changes","25":"tag-michael-malthouse-on-carlton","26":"tag-news-illicit-drugs","27":"tag-official-role","28":"tag-positive-drug-tests","29":"tag-positive-results","30":"tag-sam-docherty","31":"tag-sports","32":"tag-tested-multiple-times","33":"tag-three-time-premiership-coach","34":"tag-urine-testing","35":"tag-zach-merrett"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532284","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=532284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532284\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/463393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=532284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=532284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=532284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/poster-fallback.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n