West Coast secret report: AFL restricted author on probe

EXCLUSIVE: THE INVESTIGATOR who found Eagles bosses presided over a toxic culture of illicit drug abuse was restricted by the AFL from ruling on breaches for indiscretions that took place before April 2007.

Michael Warner

3 min read

March 24, 2017 - 6:30PM

West Coast

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THE INVESTIGATOR who found Eagles bosses presided over a toxic culture of illicit drug abuse was restricted by the AFL from recommending charges for indiscretions that took place before April 2007.

The Herald Sun this week exposed how a damning 87-page report by retired Supreme Court judge William Gillard into West Coast concluded that club leaders failed the players between 2001 and early 2007 by adopting a “cover-up approach without confronting the real cause and seeking to eradicate it”.

AFL chief Gillon McLachlan finally broke his silence on the bombshell report on Friday — three days after it was uncovered by the Herald Sun — claiming that Gillard had cleared West Coast of “conduct unbecoming”.

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But the Herald Sun can reveal that Gillard’s direction from the AFL was to only consider incidents post-April 2007 when determining if the club should be held to account for poor conduct.

Quizzed by 3AW’s Neil Mitchell over Gillard’s findings, McLachlan claimed: “The recommendation of the Gillard report to the commission was there was not enough evidence to charge the club with conduct unbecoming.

“That was the conclusion and the recommendation by the independent judge.

“His brief was to write an independent report. He did that and his recommendation to the commission — under the rules at the time the one thing they could have been charged with was conduct unbecoming — and his recommendation was there was not enough evidence.”

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AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan claims Gillard cleared West Coast of “conduct unbecoming”. Picture: Sarah Matray

Gillard’s investigation was triggered by an emergency AFL Commission meeting held with Eagles officials and players at the league’s Docklands headquarters on Sunday, April 29, 2007.

The terms of reference for his probe were finalised later that year, with the explicit directive that he look into whether there had been a repeat of “scheduled conduct by the club or any of its players”.

They did not allow Gillard to make any recommendation that action be taken against the club for failings prior to April 2007.

His report, however, was unequivocal in concluding that West Coast management had “covered-up” years of blatant illicit drug abuse and allowed a rotten off-field culture to fester before 2007.

Cocaine, speed, ice, ecstasy and marijuana were abused by Eagles players from as early as 1998, the February 2008 report found.

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Coaches were warned by police as early as 2001 that players were using drugs, while premiership midfielder Chad Fletcher had to be strapped to a hospital bed after “flatlining” in Las Vegas in October 2006.

And Gillard was scathing about club officials and players lying to him throughout the probe.

Even after April 2007, one player was charged after lying to police about a car crash.

And Gillard recommended in his February 2008 report that the club be kept on probation for another 12 months.

Former Eagles chairman Dalton Gooding, who steered the club from 2003 to late 2007, has been a business partner of McLachlan’s predecessor Andrew Demetriou since 1994.

Gooding has refused to discuss the Gillard findings or his tenure at the Eagles during the crisis.

West Coast chief executive Trevor Nisbett, lambasted by Gillard in the report but still in charge of the club almost a decade on, has not responded to detailed questions from the Herald Sun.

Former coach John Worsfold, now at Essendon, refuted Gillard’s assessments that he could have done more.

The Herald Sun can also reveal that Demetriou went to extraordinary lengths to keep the Gillard dossier confidential, with repeated restrictions on the reproducing of the document.