Demons player Joel Smith slapped with career-ending ban over drug saga

Melbourne Demons player Joel Smith’s career is as good as over after he was reportedly slapped with a monster ban.

Melbourne Demons player Joel Smith has likely played his last game of AFL after he was slapped with a four-year ban from the sport for cocaine use and alleged drug trafficking.

The Herald Sun reported AFL and SIA are expected to announced the huge ban on Friday, just over a year since Smith was first provisionally suspended.

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The AFL world was left stunned in late 2023 when the now-28-year-old utility was provisionally suspended for failing an in-season drug test.

The test, which was taken in the lead up to the AFL final by Sports Integrity Australia officials returned positive for cocaine and its metabolite Benzoylecgonine, which is prohibited under the Australian football anti-doping code.

The urine sample was collected after the Demons’ round 23 win over Hawthorn on August 20, 2023.

But the drama took a huge twist in February when anti-doping investigators accused him of cocaine trafficking after Sport Integrity Australia (SIA) officials uncovered text messages sent by Smith referencing cocaine, with one reportedly sent to teammates last year allegedly offering a quantity of the drug.

Joel Smith’s career could be over. Photo by Michael Klein

Before the trafficking allegations came to light, Smith’s team had been hoping for a ban of just three months.

However, the AFL confirmed at the time that further Anti-Doping Rule Violations for “Trafficking or Attempted Trafficking” were asserted against Smith, including a violation on September 9 2022 — the day the Demons were eliminated from the 2022 AFL semi-finals.

These were in addition to the violations previously alleged against the 27-year-old.

The Australian Football Anti-Doping Code states trafficking in an anti-doping context is relevantly defined to be “Selling, giving, transporting, sending, delivering or distributing a Prohibited Substance, by an Athlete … to any third party [but] shall not include actions involving Prohibited Substances which are not prohibited in Out-of-Competition Testing unless the circumstances as a whole demonstrate such Prohibited Substances are not intended for genuine and legal therapeutic purposes or are intended to enhance sport performance” (Article 1 of the Code).

Smith is not facing any criminal charges.

Those close to Smith reportedly insist he had never used cocaine before starting in the AFL.

Smith has played 42 matches for the Demons since being picked up with the 41st pick of the 2016 rookie draft.

Joel Smith celebrates a goal in the semi final match between Melbourne and Carlton in 2023. Photo by Michael Klein.

While the star had the option to plead his case at the AFL’s anti-doping tribunal, his father and former AFL player with North Melbourne and Melbourne Shaun Smith, claimed his son was being pressured to stay quiet.

“It feels like my son is being manipulated into being the fall guy here, in order to protect the AFL brand,” Smith said in April.

“He’s being made a scapegoat, and I’m really worried for him.”

It’s been a horror season for the Demons, whose culture has been in the spotlight throughout the year.

In March, Federal MP Andrew Wilkie used parliamentary privilege to accuse the AFL of a “multi-hundred-million-dollar fraud” and alleging a systematic “cover up” of drug taking in the league.

He claimed there was “off-the-books” testing, claiming “if there are drugs in their system the player is often asked to fake an ­injury”.

Wilkie shared signed testimony from three whistleblowers including Demons club doctor Zeeshan Arain, exiled former Melbourne Football Club president Glen Bartlett and Shaun Smith.

Originally published as Demons player Joel Smith slapped with career-ending ban over drug saga