From dream start at Gold Coast to four-year drug ban: the downfall of Norwood player Josh Glenn
Josh Glenn starred in his AFL debut in 2015. Now, he is out of football completely after a four-year drug ban. So what went wrong? People in footy circles blame a number of factors.
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It took Josh Glenn one minute to show his talent in his AFL debut for Gold Coast when he kicked the first goal of the game.
By the end of the match – against Brisbane at Metricon Stadium in May 2015 – the skilful left-footer had 21 disposals, four tackles and five inside 50s, as the Suns won by 64 points.
The performance capped a stunning rise for Glenn, who had been playing for division four amateur club Elizabeth just three years earlier.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling knowing that I’ve come a long way,” Glenn told The Advertiser post-match.
“Just because I’ve played one (AFL) game, doesn’t mean I’ll take my foot off the pedal.”
But Glenn only lasted another four games and six months at the Suns before quitting, citing homesickness.
Four years on, Glenn is out of football completely after copping a four-year suspension from the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority on Monday for testing positive to performance-enhancing drugs.
Two types of anabolic steroids – 19-Norandrosterone and 19-Noretiocholanolone – were detected in his sample in June last year following his SANFL match for Norwood.
Glenn has acknowledged the violation and accepted the sanction, ensuring he will not be able to return to any SANFL or community competition until August 10, 2022.
People in football circles believe Glenn’s downfall can be attributed to a combination of poor choices, struggles socialising and mixing in the wrong crowds.
They also say on pure talent he is definitely good enough to be an AFL player.
But Glenn has long been an uncomfortable star who has battled to fit in at clubs.
In 2013, his debut SANFL season, he won the competition’s rising star award and finished sixth in Central District’s best and fairest but did not nominate for the drafts despite strong interest from clubs, insisting he was not ready.
When he was rookie-listed at the end of the following year, he thanked the Bulldogs for the opportunity – a week after storming out of the club over strong feedback from an assistant coach.
Then just as he looked like becoming a regular AFL player at the Suns in 2015, he pulled the pin after five games due to homesickness – despite the club being willing to keep him.
Gold Coast had tried to help Glenn settle in by rallying around him and inviting him to social gatherings, but he often preferred staying in and playing Xbox.
“(Homesickness) came in probably two months before the season ended, going through injuries and being bored all the time,” Glenn told The Advertiser in 2015.
“Being at the footy club wasn’t too bad but outside of footy, you’ve got nothing to do and you just think about how good it was back home.”
Rather than return to the SANFL after his AFL career ended, Glenn joined Barossa club Willaston, where he had family connections.
Mal Greenwood, who coached Glenn at Willaston in 2016, said the midfielder “was a kid who wanted to come home and was hoping to get back on his feet”.
“He should still have been playing AFL footy,” Greenwood said.
Glenn was looked up to at Willaston because of where he had come from and, although he was reserved, he would spend time at the club most Saturday nights.
After kicking 30 goals in 13 games for Willaston, Glenn returned to Central District for the 2017 season and did not rule out another crack at the AFL.
“I wanted to play at a higher level,” Glenn said at the time.
“I was getting brought down to the Barossa league level and I didn’t want that.”
Glenn finished fifth in the Bulldogs’ best and fairest two years ago yet opted to go back to Willaston at the end of the 2017 season.
His return to the Barossa club was short-lived.
Willaston dumped him in March last year after he was charged with aggravated assault for breaking Australian Defence Force employee’s nose in drunken fight at Gawler’s Exchange Hotel, a club sponsor.
But Norwood gave him an opportunity to resume his SANFL career, saying it had done its due diligence and told him to undertake a club-run counselling and mentoring program
He gathered 22 disposals his first league game for the Redlegs against North Adelaide in round four in April.
A month later, on May 25, he produced arguably the best SANFL display of his career when he booted eight goals and had 25 touches in Norwood’s 96-point thumping of Central.
Three weeks later, he tested positive after the Glenelg match and he went on to play just four more games before making himself unavailable for selection, citing personal reasons.
Last October, Glenn received a suspended sentence for aggravated charge of recklessly causing harm to another.
“It’s disappointing to see how it’s turned out,” Greenwood said.
“The kid has an abundance of talent but it’s been wasted.”