Sam Fisher reveals his drug addition was fuelled by AFL rejection

Former St Kilda star Sam Fisher has opened up about his spiral into drug addiction, revealing it was fuelled by feelings of rejection after his footy career ended.

Former St Kilda star Sam Fisher has revealed his spiral into drug addiction was fuelled by feelings of rejection after his AFL career ended and jail changed his life.

Fisher has opened up about using drugs and alcohol to mask his emotions in the wake of his departure from the Saints in 2016 and how a long stint in custody was the wake up call he needed to enter rehab, in a powerful episode of the Good Blokes Society podcast.

“Going to jail was obviously a massive shock,” he told the podcast.

“At the time I was still full of substances.

“I needed it (jail) because I was not courageous enough to get to a rehab by myself.

“I did not have the courage to open up to my parents or a mate. I was not desperate enough to get to a rehab on my own.

“If there was a positive in it all, I was then desperate to get out of jail to a rehab, so in a roundabout way I became desperate to get to a rehab.

“It allowed me time to get clean and sober in jail.

“It served a purpose.

Former St Kilda star Sam Fisher has revealed his spiral into drug addiction was fuelled by feelings of rejection after his AFL career ended. Picture: Michael Klein.

“I was in there for 43 days so it gave me time for some fog to start lifting off my brain.”

Fisher, a two time best and fairest winner at St Kilda, was arrested in May 2022 and charged with trafficking large commercial quantities of illicit drugs. He will be pleading not guilty.

He was remanded in custody for almost seven weeks before being bailed to a rehabilitation facility in July 2022.

Fisher told the podcast his life started going off the rails after his AFL career finished and he could not find a new purpose in life.

“I guess no matter how much I thought I was prepared (for life after footy), I definitely wasn’t,” he said.

“I probably didn’t realise I was feeling rejection …. I hadn’t been rejected that many times in my life.

“I guess being recognised and assured and being told positivity all the time I wasn’t used to being told I wasn’t wanted anymore, I wasn’t needed any more.

Fisher, a two time best and fairest winner at St Kilda, was arrested in May 2022 and charged with trafficking large commercial quantities of illicit drug. Picture: Getty

He was remanded in custody for almost seven weeks before being bailed to a rehabilitation facility in July 2022.

“When I was rejected from footy and told I was not wanted the only way I could think to deal with it was to numb them (the emotions) and that was by drinking and taking drugs.”

Fisher said he had no idea how to cope with his post footy emotional turmoil.

“When I got to rehab I did not even really know what an emotion was,” he said.

“I had to get a chart printed off for me so I could start to label the emotions that were coming up to me in rehab, so that I could put a name to that emotion.”

Fisher said his interest in horse racing helped him get through his time in custody.

“I went into jail when we were on the back end of Covid, so when I got in there you had to do 14 days of quarantine, so you are in a cell by yourself,” he said.

“After 14 days you were then meant to get transferred to mainstream yard, and on the 14th day we had an outbreak of Covid within the section that I was in and that meant we got locked down for another 14 days.

“I was 28 days in a cell by myself, not one bit of fresh air, no walks.

“Lucky enough free-to-air TV has got Racing.com on it, so I was able to watch the races.”

Fisher has now found employment through the Good Blokes Society network and is rebuilding his life.

Fisher will return to court to fight his charges early in 2024.