Robbo: Former Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett says AFL needs to change drug strike policy

Outspoken former Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett says league officials should not be keeping a player’s first drug strike anonymous.

Former Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett says the AFL is not doing enough to help players after they receive a drug strike. Picture: Asanka Ratnayake

Former Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett says there is “validity” in telling AFL parents if their son or daughter registers a first drug strike.

AFL rules say only the club doctor and the player are informed about the first strike, although it’s believed the AFL’s integrity department would have access to the list of all players who ran foul of the drugs policy.

A first strike is issued to a player who “possesses, uses or deals an illicit drug, returns a positive sample or refuses to submit a sample to AFL drug testers”.

A second strike sees the player’s name being made public and he or she is suspended for four matches. A third strike incurs a 12-match suspension.

Kennett and his former counterpart at Collingwood Eddie McGuire were unrestrained in their view that club presidents be told if there was a first positive test.

Parents only learn of a first strike if the player tells them, or in extreme cases such as Melbourne’s Joel Smith, when Sports Integrity Australia issues a notice.

Joel Smith has been provisionally suspended after he was found guilty of taking a performance enhancing drug. Picture: Robert Cianflone

If Smith had a previous strike, there’s an argument to say that if his parents were told then greater welfare or awareness could’ve been placed around him.

“A lot of the families are probably not equipped to handle the knowledge, some of them will be, but not all of them,” Kennett said.

“I have no doubt that however much Ben Cousins’ family tried, for years they weren’t successful in getting him to change course.

“The system at the moment is unworkable.

“At the time (of my presidency) with knowledge of drugs, depression etc, I wanted to know, not only to help the individual but importantly to find out within his cohort of friends at the club that what he was doing wasn’t influencing them or he wasn’t being influenced by them.

Jeff Kennett wants the AFL to get tougher on drug testing. Picture: Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images

“The concept of letting parents know I think has validity on a confidential basis.

“I think the doctor should let the president know and there is a validity in us letting the parents know as well because that is a level of shaming, although private, which might make a difference.

“It might be interesting to ask someone who has been through that experience (initially knowing of a drug strike) would they have liked the club president and doctor to have come to them and tell what had happened.”

The AFL said on Monday that players were treated as adults which was one of the reasons why parents were not made aware of a first strike.

By extension, the number of players at each club on first strikes is also not known, meaning parents handing their teenagers to football clubs via the drafts are not aware if there is a drug culture at a particular club.

“The AFL is not serious (about drug testing),” Kennett said.

Originally published as Robbo: Former Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett says AFL needs to change drug strike policy