AFL drug test bombshell: Simon Goodwin responds, Jay Clark analyses Melbourne’s ‘footy spin’

What are we supposed to make of a drug testing system when fans — and even coaches — are kept in the dark? JAY CLARK examines the dubious reality and the ‘footy spin’ clubs including Melbourne have been caught up in.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – MARCH 17: Simon Goodwin, Senior Coach of the Demons speaks to the media during the 2024 AFL Round 01 match between the Melbourne Demons and the Western Bulldogs at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on March 17, 2024 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

In four decades Melbourne chief executive Gary Pert said he had not seen a better culture than Melbourne’s.

When the club was under the absolute hammer amid Joel Smith’s positive drugs test and Clayton Oliver’s off-field behaviour, Pert tried to reassure the Melbourne faithful everything was sweet.

But the truth is that in four decades we might not have seen a greater attempt at footy spin.

The reality is Pert has only limited once-a-year information about the extent of Melbourne’s drug issues from the AFL’s medical chief, and that doesn’t include when players take secret tests and pull out on game day with a make-believe hammy.

We now know for certain drug tests are covered up and injuries are faked to protect players following bombshell revelations in the Herald Sun on Tuesday.

Methamphetamine or a mild strain, who would know?

Fans are hoodwinked in this regard, we are told, for patient confidentiality reasons.

Only the club doctor knows. It’s a protection thing.

So when Pert faced questions about the club’s culture issues and alleged drug use, he was simply saying what he wanted Melbourne fans and the footy community to hear.

Gary Pert and Simon Goodwin. Picture: Michael Klein

“Accountability” was key, Pert said. But not when it comes to the injury list.

Not even Garry Lyon, one of the club’s greatest players and biggest supporters would cop it on SEN, saying “I’m not buying it, I’m sorry”

Coach Simon Goodwin, who faced similar questions in October about Smith’s positive test, has denied Melbourne has “got a culture in that (drugs) space”.

But on Wednesday, Goodwin said he was completely in the dark about secret drug use and injury cover-ups.

The thought of it all hadn’t even crossed his mind.

“It is news to me,” Goodwin said about the secret tests. “I think it is a surprise to everyone in the industry because there is no line of sight for me as a head coach.

“I understand the (illicit drugs) policy but I don’t get information that people would expect to get.”

Kate Roffey and Gary Pert in 2022 with Melbourne’s premiership trophy. Picture: Michael Klein

Pressed further about whether he had ever had an inkling something was up, Goodwin said it wasn’t his area.

“I have never questioned anything that sits in that space,” Goodwin said.

“I have never thought about it. My job is to coach the footy team. It doesn’t really cross my mind on a week-to-week basis.”

But what happens when a players’ behaviour deteriorates, or he or she goes off the rails entirely?

Do the alarm bells start to ring in the coach’s box or not?

The long-held criticism about the AFL’s illicit drugs policy is that the people who are most affected, and potentially most invested in the football department, are kept at arm’s length from the truth.

Western Bulldogs’ coach Luke Beveridge hit the nail on the head two years ago when he said the illicit drugs policy ought to be binned, while others say something about it being a “medical model”.

“I’m a big believer that it should disappear, and there’s not many sporting codes in the world that have an illicit drug policy,” Beveridge said.

“None of us really feel it works.”

And Melbourne’s situation highlights the absurdity of it all.

Has the club got a drug problem? Goodwin said it himself. When it comes to the secret tests and injury cover-ups, he’s not allowed to know.

GOODWIN SAYS CLUBS WANT ‘ANSWERS’ ON SECRET DRUG TESTS

Josh Barnes

Melbourne will go to the AFL for clarity on the league’s drugs policy as Demons coach Simon Goodwin deferred questions about whether clubs had pulled players out of games to avoid gameday positive tests, as alleged by an ex-Melbourne doctor.

Federal MP Andrew Wilkie on Tuesday told parliament he had received a signed statement from former Melbourne head doctor Zeeshan Arain accusing the AFL of facilitating clandestine drug tests before advising players to “fake an injury” and avoid a gameday test.

Goodwin on Wednesday said the bombshell allegations were “news to me” and he had no “line of sight” of any testing.

The coach said the drugs policy sat with the AFL and the league would have to answer to the allegations.

He said he had “enormous” trust in his current doctor and medical staff and hadn’t questioned any late withdrawals.

Simon Goodwin during Melbourne’s win over Hawthorn at the weekend. Picture: Michael Klein

Goodwin said “every club” would be searching for answers from the AFL following the allegations.

“I think every club is interested now to find out more information,” he said.

“I’m sure that is a given right across the competition and we are one of those (clubs).

“I think every person in clubland would want answers on how the policy works and is it a success? We are no different to that and yes we have been through a bit but this is an AFL policy and we will be asking the appropriate questions and getting all the answers we need.”

Goodwin said he had “never questioned anything” about players being pulled out of games and he had “never thought about it to be honest”.

“You are asking me questions that I have no line of sight over and it’s something I have never really thought about to be honest,” he said.

“I just back in the process of what the policy is and these are questions you are going to have to ask the AFL.”

The AFL on Wednesday morning had yet to respond to the allegations.

While Goodwin was adamant in support for his current club doctor, he said he hadn’t thought about Dr Arain, who was sacked from the club in 2020.

“This is more of an AFL thing we are dealing with today. In terms of former staff, I have no real opinion on that,” he said.

“This is an AFL policy and AFLPA policy, led by the club doctors and the people involved.

“I don’t have a thought about the ex-doctor or where that sits. This is new information and this policy has been in place for a long time and as I have said all along, this is an AFL policy and it has got nothing to do with our doctor, our ex-club doctor. This is an AFL thing and we need to get to the bottom of it through the AFL and then we can have some more information going forward.”

In October, Melbourne was rocked by an investigation into forward Joel Smith after he returned a positive test to cocaine in August.

He remains provisionally suspended and banned from the club.

But Goodwin passed questions about whether there is a drugs culture in the AFL on to league HQ.

“I have answered that plenty of times, in terms of the information we get, you would have to ask the AFL,” he said.

“They get the most line of sight on what that would look like.”

Originally published as AFL drug test bombshell: Simon Goodwin responds, Jay Clark analyses Melbourne’s ‘footy spin’