Collingwood’s Josh Thomas, Lachie Keeffe accept two-year bans for taking banned drug clenbuterol
COLLINGWOOD is committed to redrafting Josh Thomas and Lachie Keeffe after the pair accepted a two-year ban for taking a banned drug.
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COLLINGWOOD says it believes banned duo Lachie Keeffe and Josh Thomas did not knowingly dope and will seek to give the chastened youngsters a second chance in the AFL.
Some 182 days after the February 10 positive test to clenbuterol that shocked the football world, Keeffe and Thomas on Monday said contaminated illicit drugs was the likely explanation.
The pair had been at the St Kilda Festival on February 9 with friends including other footballers.
Clenbuterol, which can increase aerobic capacity and build muscle, is a common cutting agent in recreational drugs.
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Keeffe and Thomas have each been hit with two-year bans, the maximum under the AFL’s Anti-Doping Code when the tests were recorded. The top ban now is four years.
They each also forego about $50,000 salary from this year, a penalty agreed also contained in the AFL code.
The suspension is backdated to when their provisional suspension began in March, which means they cannot play until late in the pre-season of 2017.
“While we are unable to be absolutely certain as to how this substance came to be in our systems, we can only assume it occurred during a night out prior to testing, on which we took illicit drugs,” Thomas, 23, said.
“Although we can’t be sure, we believe the substance we took was laced with clenbuterol. We want to stress that at no stage did we knowingly take clenbuterol.
“We acknowledge we made a serious error in judgment. I want to make it absolutely clear that we have never intentionally taken performance-enhancing drugs.”
Collingwood will delist the pair but will look at redrafting Keeffe, 25, and Thomas as rookies in this year’s draft should they nominate.
Pies chief executive Gary Pert conceded carrying the pair on the rookie list in 2016 was not ideal, but showed the esteem in which Thomas and Keeffe were held.
He made reference to the club song, saying that “side by side we stick together”.
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“We accept that Josh and Lachie did not intentionally take performance-enhancing drugs and did not knowingly consume clenbuterol,” Pert said.
“We accept that this was a case of two young men who made a poor decision to consume illicit drugs – decisions they will regret for the rest of their lives.
“Our commitment to redraft them says much about the regard that we have for them.
“We also believe the best thing that we can provide for them is light at the end of the tunnel – to rekindle their football careers.”
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Magpies coach Nathan Buckley agreed with Pert, saying Thomas and Keeffe made an uncharacteristic mistake but it would be “the making of them”.
“We’re looking forward to bringing these two boys back into the fold in 12 months time,” Buckley told Fox Footy’s AFL 360 on Monday night.
“But we’d like to see this story end in a positive note because we don’t want this to define them in the end.
“They’re two great characters who have made a poor decision that has affected their professional lives.
“My heart bleeds for them for what they’re going through but I think it will be the making of them. It’s an opportunity for them to grow and to learn.
“I will be steadfast in supporting Lachie and Josh to the cows come home because I think this is an isolated event. It’s not a pattern of behaviour.”
Keeffe, 25 said he and Thomas hoped their plight proved to be a cautionary tale for other sportspeople who may decide to take illicit drugs, and that they don’t want their mistake to be “a life sentence”.
“We deeply regret our actions, and we take full responsibility for our mistakes and we accept the consequences. We also hope others will learn from our mistakes,” he said.
“We also hope that an error of judgment does not become a life sentence. “We support entirely the drug education program from the AFL, the AFLPA, and the Collingwood Football Club.
“Having worked so hard to build AFL careers, we are now committed to starting again and we hope we can regain everyone’s faith and trust and return to the AFL in 2017.”
Collingwood would have no advantage over other clubs seeking to list Keefe and/or Thomas in the rookie draft.
Pert said the pair would be subject to targeted drug testing if they were re-rookied.
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