Betrayal of a duty of care: West Coast chiefs lashed over toxic culture
A DAMNING report kept secret for almost a decade condemns senior West Coast Eagles officials for “covering up” years of blatant illicit drug abuse at the club.
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A DAMNING report kept secret for almost a decade condemns senior West Coast Eagles officials for “covering up” years of blatant illicit drug abuse at the club.
Eagles bosses including veteran chief executive Trevor Nisbett and former coach John Worsfold — who is now coach at Essendon — are slammed for allowing a toxic off-field culture to “fester”.
The explosive findings by the AFL’s special investigator William Gillard, QC, have until today been kept under lock and key — with no sanctions ever placed on the club which claimed the 2006 premiership at the height of the drugs scandal.
But the report is scathing about the lack of care shown by senior officials to players, which it says contributed to their demise.
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“The culture developed over a number of years and could be traced back to about the year 2000,” Gillard says in his report.
“It was based on success, arrogance, a belief that what the players did in their own time was their own business, and a failure by the club to properly punish players in a way that acted as a deterrent.
“It was a culture which emerged and developed during a period when some players were taking illicit drugs, a fact that would have been known to the playing group and which was ignored by the club.
“The club did not take a stand on illicit drug-taking, and once the (AFL) Drugs Policy came into operation in early 2005, there was no excuse for the inactivity.
“The inaction caught up with the club in 2006.”
Gillard finds that the club’s leniency toward Ben Cousins and protection of the star player was a major factor in his personal demise and the Eagles’ own unravelling.
“Cousins took such quantities that he became addicted,” Gillard says. “However, it was not until March 20, 2007, that the club took a strong public stand on the issue.
“The failure to deal with Cousins also fed the culture.
“The Cousins saga amply demonstrates and exemplifies the dangers in failing to respond to a problem early and nipping it in the bud.
“The sore festers and every effort is made to cover it up without confronting the real cause and seeking to eradicate it,” Gillard says.
“All the background evidence suggests that he (Cousins) was in the grip of illicit drugs and that he took them regularly. Yet nothing was done at the club to take a stand against illicit drug use.
“Importantly, Cousins remained a member of the players’ leadership group. This sent the wrong message.
“The fact was that to deal with him in an adequate and appropriate way would have derailed the club’s campaign on the field.”
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WHO IS WILLIAM GILLARD?
EXASPERATED by one drugs scandal on top of another, the AFL turned to retired Supreme Court judge William Gillard, QC, in November 2007 to find out what was really happening at the West Coast Eagles.
Gillard spent three months investigating incidents involving Eagles players and administrators, dating back to a 1998 trip, before presenting his explosive findings to the AFL Commission in February 2008.
His 87-page report has been kept under wraps at AFL House.
Gillard was appointed special investigator to establish whether the football club and certain players were involved in conduct likely to prejudice the interests and reputation of the AFL.
It followed a crisis meeting between the AFL Commission and club representatives in the AFL boardroom in April 2007, where the Eagles vowed to clean up their act.
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Regarding the conduct of Nisbett, who remains in charge at West Coast after 18 years, Gillard says: “During the period from 2001 to 2007, there were no set procedures laid down within the club to deal with players’ off-field misconduct.
“Each incident was dealt with by an official although as Mr Nisbett stated, he dealt with the more serious actions of misconduct and some were dealt with by the board …
“Mr Nisbett emphasised the difficulty involved in seeking to establish the facts.
“I have some difficulty in accepting that players and especially officials are not forthcoming when dealing with the CEO or the coaching staff in relation to misconduct.”
Worsfold, who coached the club’s 2006 premiership side, is also accused of failing to act.
“Coach Worsfold was told by at least three fairly reliable sources in 2002 that some players were taking illicit drugs and were mixing with undesirable persons and could get themselves into trouble,” Gillard says.
“Two names were mentioned, Cousins and (Michael) Gardiner. They were spoken to by the coach, and the players responded that there was nothing to worry about.”
Gillard says it was only after the Eagles were knocked out of the 2007 finals that Worsfold read the riot act to his players about illicit drugs.
“After West Coast Eagles were defeated by Collingwood in the finals series in September 2007, coach Worsfold addressed the players and after congratulating them and thanking them for their efforts in what was a very close-fought semi-final, proceeded to severely criticise a number of players, who he named, as derailing the team’s efforts for season 2007,” Gillard writes.
“It was clear that the coach was extremely disappointed and angry that the season had not ended on a winning note, and in particular talked about the taking of drugs and stated in belligerent manner that ‘he would rather die than take a drug’.”
Gillard says a 2001 internal investigation into drug use was “whitewashed”.
“My investigation revealed that some players were dabbling in illicit drugs for many years,” he says.
“The earliest reported incident involved three players in Spain in 1998 during an after-season trip who were observed behaving in a highly stimulated fashion despite not drinking alcohol.
“They were talked to by a senior player. One is still playing for the club,” Gillard says in his 2008 dossier.
“In 2001, the club was informed that some five or six players were observed outside a hotel smoking marijuana.
“Despite the latter report coming from a senior member of the coaching staff, (name deleted for legal reasons) put in place an internal investigation which whitewashed the complaint.”
This was at a time when, as the summary of scheduled conduct reveals, players Cousins and Gardiner were alleged to have been linked to underworld figures and drug dealers.
“An internal investigation of this allegation cleared the players of any wrongdoing, however the allegation should have been a warning sign to the administration that some players may be involved in illicit drugs,” Gillard says.
“Any person who is taking illicit drugs needs a supply. It is well known that some members of the criminal classes are involved in trafficking in drugs.
“The fact that these two players were apparently socialising with some members of the criminal classes should have put those at the club on notice.
“However, the context must not be overlooked. In the years 2002 and 2003, Cousins was captain, he was an All Australian and in 2003 Gardiner was an All Australian also.
“They were star players. The club did nothing in relation to the reports given, and accepted what the players said, namely, that there was nothing to worry about. It is inconceivable that senior members of the administration of the club were not aware of the reports.”
Gillard says he was only satisfied that the club had adopted a proactive approach to off-field misconduct after November 2006.
“There is little doubt that by the end of the year 2003, there was a culture at the club which gave rise to the scheduled conduct,” Gillard says. “The culture could be described as the view held by players and the club, that if they were successful on the field, what they did outside the club was of little consequence and was in their own private time, and if trouble resulted, the club would take steps to minimise the gravity of the misconduct and impose a fairly lenient sanction, especially if the player concerned was one of the better players.”
Gillard found that a new system established by the club in 2007 was adequate and that no further sanctions were required.
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GILLARD REPORT: LIST OF INTERVIEWEES
Adrian Anderson, Chris Judd, Guy McKenna, Josh Fraser, Aaron Edwards, Mitchell Morton, Michael Gardiner, Andrew McDougall, Andrew Demetriou, Andrew Dillon, Tony Peek, Dr Peter Harcourt, Neil Ross, Trevor Nisbett (interviewed three times), Dalton Gooding, John Worsfold, Dr Rod Moore (interviewed twice), Stephen Woodhouse, Mark Barnaba, James McMahon, Tyson Stenglein, Quinten Lynch, Dean Cox, Chad Fletcher (interviewed twice), Andrew Embley, Adam Hunter, Adam Selwood, Ken Judge, Darren Glass, Dr Simon Lenton, Daniel Kerr, Daniel Chick, Dennis Cometti, Nathan Buckley, Dr Daniel Eichner ASADA, Darren Mullaly, Ben Cousins, Tim Gepp, Garry O’Donnell, Michael Braun, Dr Harry Unglik, Steven Armstrong, Brendon Gale AFLPA, Bernie Shinners AFLPA (also represented several players), Tony Micale, Glenn Stewart, Bill Sutherland.
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AFL’S TOP SECRET EAGLES REPORT SPECIAL:
DRUGS, LIES AND COVER-UPS: WEST COAST SCANDAL EXPOSED
AFL URGED TO SET UP INDEPENDENT BODY TO PROBE MISCONDUCT
WHAT BEN COUSINS SAID ABOUT HIS DRUG USE
EAGLES MIDFIELDER CHAD FLETCHER STRAPPED TO LAS VEGAS BED
WEST COAST FAILED ON KERR’S VALIUM SCAM
CHRIS JUDD ‘OUT OF TOUCH ON DRUG POLICY’
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