{"id":564929,"date":"2026-03-26T05:07:28","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T05:07:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/564929\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T05:07:28","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T05:07:28","slug":"hair-testing-to-be-doubled-club-bosses-to-be-informed-of-repeat-offenders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/564929\/","title":{"rendered":"Hair testing to be doubled, club bosses to be informed of repeat offenders"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Jake<\/p>\n

March 26, 2026 \u2014 3:31pm<\/p>\n

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Every AFL and AFLW player will be hair tested twice per year and the identity of players with ongoing serious drug issues will be known by the relevant club\u2019s chief executive, president and football boss under the league\u2019s heavily revamped illicit drug policy.<\/p>\n

But the senior coach remains out of the loop for those players who are under drug treatment and have continued to use illicit drugs.<\/p>\n

\"AFLAFL CEO Andrew Dillon announces the new illicit drugs policy alongside Bulldogs CEO Ameet Bains, Collingwood captain Darcy Moore, AFLPA boss James Gallagher and football operations boss Laura Kane.AFL Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The AFL and AFL Players Association made the announcement about the new policy, which was revealed by this masthead earlier this month<\/a>, on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Players who have serious issues \u2013 and who have not overcome their problem with treatment \u2013 will face a \u201cfitness to play assessment\u201d<\/a> and will not be permitted to play until they pass that assessment from an expert panel.<\/p>\n

At that stage, the club CEO, president and general manager of football will be informed, but they will be barred from informing others. The exclusion of those club leaders from the knowledge of a player\u2019s drug issues has long been a bugbear of clubs, and especially some outspoken presidents such as Hawthorn\u2019s ex-president Jeff Kennett.<\/p>\n

Breaches of confidentiality by those parties (or the club doctor and club psychologist) may bring fines of up to $250,000 for the club, according to the policy.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The method is already followed, less formally, under the AFL\u2019s current system, in which players have taken leave from training and playing without specifying that they have drug issues.<\/p>\n

The new AFL illicit drugs policy will feature more \u201caccountability\u201d for players under treatment, even though the AFL has discarded the use of formal \u201cstrikes\u201d and moved to a system in which players start a program with the club doctor and club psychologist and then move through phases of treatment.<\/p>\n

In the early stages, only the club doctor and club psychologist will be informed of the positive (hair) test. The testing information will not be passed on to other parties, such as Sport Integrity Australia, which administers the entirely separate (WADA) code for performance-enhancing drugs.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

The removal of formal strikes from the policy \u2013 and its replacement with a series of steps in treatment \u2013 ends the pretence that the AFL policy was punitive, when it was almost entirely medically based and about treatment since introduction in 2005.<\/p>\n

The AFL\u2019s executive general manager of football operations Laura Kane said players who are deemed unfit to play would be described as \u201cunavailable\u201d without further elaboration.<\/p>\n

Communicating why players have been unavailable has been a problem for teams with players whom the AFL has effectively suspended, or sat down, when they have an ongoing drug problem.<\/p>\n

Within clubs, there is recognition that many, if not most, key figures would already know the player has a drug problem by the time he reaches the point of being prevented from playing.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"AFL<\/a><\/p>\n

Players who test positive via a hair test will have what the AFL termed \u201ca behaviour change assessment\u201d and given an individualised assessment by the club doctor and club psychologist. The AFL has added the club psychologist to help the club medicos, who have previously carried the bulk of the load for handling players who have been found to have used illicit drugs.<\/p>\n

In the second phase, a second consecutive positive hair test by a player will progress to \u201can individual management plan overseen by an AFL IDP (illicit drugs policy) manager\u201d. This phase would include routine testing, treatment and the player would be required to contribute $5000 to the cost of his treatment or $900 for AFLW players.<\/p>\n

The player who continues to use drugs after this greater intervention will face the fitness to play assessment, which has three possible outcomes: \u201cfit to play\u201d, then \u201cfit to play or train on stipulated terms\u201d, or \u201cunfit to play or train for a specified period\u201d and subject to \u201cintensive treatment\u201d.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"AFL.\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The AFL says the new hair testing will be able to detect drug use for three months, compared to only \u201ca couple of days\u201d for the previous method of urine testing. The expectation, thus, is that there will be more detections and referrals for treatment.<\/p>\n

The new program will apply to the AFLW for the first time after the 2027 pre-season and will apply to the AFL men once they all have been hair tested once this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cLess will be left to individual club doctors to manage the program,\u201d said AFLPA CEO James Gallagher.<\/p>\n

AFL CEO Andrew Dillon said the new policy was \u201cthe most stringent illicit drugs policy in Australian sport\u201d and that it was \u201cmore comprehensive and rigorous\u201d with mandatory education and hair testing, monitoring and support.<\/p>\n

Gallagher and the AFL said the new policy remained a welfare-based one, rather than \u201cpunitive\u201d, based on expert advice. \u201cBut it is also the most effective way to change behaviour.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keep up to date with the best AFL coverage in the country. Sign up for the Real Footy newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"JakeJake Niall<\/a> is a Walkley award-winning sports journalist and chief AFL writer for The Age.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"March 26, 2026 \u2014 3:31pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":564930,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-564929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564929","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=564929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564929\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/564930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=564929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=564929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=564929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}