Architect of AFL’s Illicit Drugs Policy says it saved several players from becoming ‘next Ben Cousins’
THE architect of the AFL’s contentious Illicit Drugs Policy says it saved numerous young players from becoming “the next Ben Cousins” and no player has ever recorded three positive strikes.
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NOT a single AFL player has ever recorded three positive illicit drug tests, according to the architect of the contentious program.
Retired AFL medical director Dr Harry Unglik has opened up on the testing system that has long divided the industry, claiming it has saved several young players from becoming “the next Ben Cousins”.
“We didn’t hide anything,” Unglik said in a new book, People of the Boot - The Triumphs & Tragedy of Australian Jews in Sport, published this month.
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“They said various big-name players had three positive tests – and that wasn’t true. If they’d had three positives they would’ve been outed.”
The AFL’s illicit drugs policy, introduced in 2005, has since been tightened to a two-strike system.
The policy was a talking point at a recent secret gathering of Melbourne-based club presidents at Hawthorn chairman Jeff Kennett’s Cremorne office.
Unglik revealed how Andrew Demetriou decided to test rumours that players were dabbling in recreational drugs when he was in charge of the AFL Players’ Association.
Demetriou called in ASADA to conduct research with “quite a few” positive tests returned.
When Demetriou joined the AFL, Unglik and AFL medical commissioner Peter Harcourt were asked to design the illicit drugs policy.
“We copped a lot of flak from the press,” Unglik said.
“We were either wrong for bringing it in from a civil liberties point of view, while conspiracy theorists thought we were hiding things and it was lip service.
“But I’m proud of it. We have – and I can’t tell you who – but we have definitely, 100 per cent saved some kids from becoming the next Ben Cousins.
“Kids that could’ve gone the wrong way, and because we’ve looked after them and monitored them and tested them and got them help and support we’ve got them back on the straight and narrow.”
Unglik, who joined the AFL in 2001 and retired at the end of last year, also suggested a rule change to reduce concussions.
The long-time North Melbourne club doctor and AFL life member said coaching players to grab and twist their opponents while tackling, instead of riding them into the ground, was leading to more concussions.
“I reckon that’s a bad rule,” Unglik said.
“If a player tackles from behind, and he rides a player into the ground, it should be play-on.
“They rarely get concussed when they do that, whereas the ones on the side, you see lots of them get concussed.”
Unglik said the neck muscles on the outsides of the neck were not as strong as the neck muscles that flex and extend.
“If you tackle an opponent from behind, and you push him into ground they’ll pay a push in the back,” he said.
“So coaches have taught players not to do that, but to grab them and twist them over. When they twist them over they bang their heads on the ground and they’re getting concussed.
“Whereas if you fall forwards, even if your arms are pinned, you can sort of pull your neck back and avoid hitting the ground.”
Sam Landsberger was a contributor for ‘People of the Boot - The Triumphs & Tragedy of Australian Jews in Sport’.
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Originally published as Architect of AFL’s Illicit Drugs Policy says it saved several players from becoming ‘next Ben Cousins’