Campbell Brown: Former Dees president ‘completely vindicated’ as Melbourne crisis deepens

Three years ago, the alarm bells were sounding for Melbourne over a looming drug culture crisis. Now, MICHAEL WARNER reports, those who sounded the alarm are ‘completely vindicated’.

Demons president Glen Bartlett on the sidelines of a Demons match in 2018 in Melbourne. He was forced out of the club after raising concerns around drug use at the club. Picture: Adam Trafford/AFL Media.

Football hardman Campbell Brown says exiled former Melbourne president Glen Bartlett has been “completely vindicated” by the off-field crisis that is now engulfing the club.

It comes as figures close to embattled Demon Joel Smith insist he never used cocaine before signing on at Melbourne as a rookie.

Victoria Police on Wednesday confirmed it has been made aware of the allegations levelled at Smith, and was assessing information provided by Sports Integrity Australia.

Bartlett was forced out of the Demons in April 2021 after sounding the alarm over the club’s culture and pushing for illicit drug testing of all players and staff.

“Glenn Bartlett put this on the agenda three years ago,” Brown declared on Wednesday.

“He’s been completely vindicated and maybe if they (Melbourne) had acted back then some of these issues may not have arisen. Glenn was treated extremely poorly – he wanted to implement some measures to make sure it didn’t get to the point it probably is now – and was hung out to dry.

“And I’m sure there is more going on internally at Melbourne than the public even knows about.”

Brown, a Hawthorn premiership player, was at the Gold Coast Suns the year before the Queensland expansion club was gripped by its own cocaine scandal involving more than a dozen players in 2015.

Demons president Glen Bartlett on the sidelines of a Demons match in 2018 in Melbourne. He was forced out of the club after raising concerns around drug use at the club. Picture: Adam Trafford/AFL Media.

“I was at the Suns 12 months’ before all that stuff came out – and it didn’t come as a surprise,” Brown said.

He said Melbourne’s board and senior executives would be well-served making a call to former West Coast bosses Dalton Gooding and Trevor Nisbett and “speaking to them about what happens when you don’t act”.

Meanwhile, Melbourne skipper Max Gawn strongly denied there was an illicit drug culture at the club on Wednesday despite fresh allegations that suspended teammate Joel Smith had sent text messages to players offering them quantities of cocaine.

“All I can say is for 16 years I’ve been getting drug tested, 10 years I’ve been getting hair tested … in that 10 years I’ve never been told that our club has a drug culture,” Gawn said.

“I like to think I’ve got a good grasp on our group. I’m incredibly bullish that we’ve got the right culture. We’re always working on it.

“I’m not hiding, there are issues and we have to make sure we get that right.”

Smith is facing a four-year ban from footy but a source familiar with SIA’s probe said he only began using cocaine after joining Melbourne.

The Demons, however, are privately confident past AFL hair testing data does not deem them to be an at-risk club for illicit drug use.

Melbourne’s Joel Smith is under investigation for trafficking cocaine. Picture: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images.

AFL boss Andrew Dillon said there was no cause for the league to intervene at Melbourne.

“There have been issues over the off-season, but I think they have great leadership … they do have things to work on, but they are a very experienced club led by an experienced CEO (Gary Pert) and a great captain,” Dillon said.

“The use of illicit drugs is a society issue, and we don’t shy away from that.”

But Melbourne legend Garry Lyon declared his club would be “negligent” if they did not do a “deep dive into their environment”.

Brisbane Lions legend Jonathan Brown said he suspected Melbourne’s cultural issues went far deeper.

“Leigh Matthews had many great sayings but one of them was the ‘tip of the iceberg’ theory. His theory was whenever there was a little bit above the surface – which obviously is things that are public – there must be a lot going on under the surface,” Brown told Triple M.

“That footy club (Melbourne) has just rolled from issue to mistake to mistake.”

Bartlett’s long-running legal battle against four Demons directors, including current president Kate Roffey, returns to the Federal Court next month.

Melbourne confirmed it had been advised by the AFL that further Anti-Doping Rule Violations have been asserted against Smith by SIA.

“The Melbourne Football Club is not authorised to make public comment while this is an ongoing matter that is being investigated,” the club said.