Collingwood player Sam Murray under ASADA investigation after alleged positive drug test
COLLINGWOOD defender Sam Murray faces an uphill battle to avoid a potentially career-ending four-year ban for allegedly taking an illicit substance as the Magpies defended their club culture.
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COLLINGWOOD has fiercely defended its culture despite first-year Magpie Sam Murray facing a four-year ban for a mid-week cocaine hit that ended in a match-day positive test.
The Pies confirmed Murray had a positive test to an illicit drug that the Herald Sun understands was cocaine taken before the Round 19 clash against Richmond.
Murray was informed by ASADA of a positive A sample last Friday, which saw the Pies remove him from the team to play Port Adelaide and replace him with first-gamer Nathan Murphy.
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The result of Murray’s B sample is expected in a fortnight, which will set in chain a process that includes an eventual infraction notice and maximum ban of four years.
It is the latest drugs controversy to rock the AFL, which has seen penalties for the Essendon 34, Ryan Crowley, Lachie Whitfield, Ahmed Saad and issues surrounding Harley Bennell and Jake Carlisle.
Collingwood is not aware of the details of exactly when he took that cocaine or whether other players were with him.
But former ASADA boss Richards Ings said stimulants of that nature flushed from the system in one to three days, which suggests drug use from Wednesday of that week onwards.
The former Sydney player faces an almost impossible task to prove he inadvertently took the substance, which he would need to do if he was to receive a discount from the four-year ban.
Like Collingwood’s Lachie Keeffe and Josh Thomas in 2016, he faces the likely prospect of a maximum ban, which has been doubled to four years since they were handed two-year sentences.
Ings told the Herald Sun stimulants were clearly performance-enhancing but said for the Pies to be penalised, two or more players needed to guilty of an offence.
“It’s a stimulant. They are banned on match day because they have the potential to increase your metabolism, your heart rate, your aggression,’’ he told the Herald Sun.
“It’s why amphetamines and all those sort of substances are banned on match day.
“We have been down this road before. It is identical to the two Collingwood boys with the sole exception being the maximum ban is four years instead of two,’’ he said.
Macpherson Kelley lawyer George Haros, who defended St Kilda’s Saad, said Murray was facing a tough burden to receive a discount.
“ASADA are not inclined to discount. It is a very hard road to get around and if what is reported is the case he will be fighting to get anything less than a four-year ban.
“We started a provisional ban early after the B sample was positive so that got him back sooner, but four years out of the game will be very tough for him.”
Pies CEO Mark Anderson said it was the only investigation into the playing list, adamant it was a “one off” at a club with great people and culture.
“The other two incidents were some time ago,” Anderson said. “I have been here for seven months and my experience of the club has been extremely positive. We have some quality people at every level leading our program and the culture that exists within the club.”
He said the club’s drug education was “clear and explicit”.
Pies leadership group member Jeremy Howe hit out at comments the Magpies had a drug culture, saying much had changed since former Collingwood CEO Gary Pert complained of “volcanic” drug activity across the AFL.
“I kind of got really frustrated because you can’t make comments like that from outside the four walls when you don’t know what is going on inside,” Howe told SEN.
“What we are building, the feeling among the group, the culture here is as strong as it’s been.
“We are building something great, it doesn’t change the way we go about it.
“We are at the pointy end of the season, but we are not going to let this affect the way we are going to finish off the year.”
Murray joined Collingwood in a trade last year as an exciting running half-back, the trade seeing them drop from draft pick 33 to 50 in this year’s national draft on current ladder position.
A spokesman for the anti-doping agency said: “ASADA is unable to talk publicly about the specifics of any investigation, and that includes speculating about individuals or teams, until such time as its legislation permits.
“This ensures the integrity of the investigation and the privacy of any individual under investigation is protected.”
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