ASADA drug testers will now be tested for COVID-19 after Brownlow Medalist Gerard Healy slammed AFL over initial arrangement

The AFL insisted the risk was low but, after Brownlow Medalist Gerard Healy slammed its plan to allow ASADA drug testers to have contact with players without being tested for coronavirus, the league has changed tack.

Richmond skipper Trent Cotchin was one of hundreds of players tested for COVID-19 at a pop-up clinic. Picture: Alex Coppel

ASADA drug testers will now have to be tested for coronavirus before having contact with AFL players.

The AFL has backpedalled from the original arrangement between the league and anti-doping authority, testers will now be compelled to be tested for COVID-19 before they attend clubs or the league’s quarantine hub on the Gold Coast.

“The AFL and the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority have moved to alter their agreed protocols around testing players during COVID-19,” a statement on Friday night read.

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Richmond skipper Trent Cotchin was one of hundreds of players tested for COVID-19 at a pop-up clinic. Picture: Alex Coppel

“The original protocols for testing were put in place in collaboration with ASADA, the AFL and the league’s chief medical officer.

“Under the new protocols in consultation with the AFL, ASADA testing staff will undergo COVID test before coming into contact with players.”

The scenario — revealed this week — gave permission for testers to have access to clubs and players for performance-enhancing drug testing without having to be tested for the virus.

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That was despite players and officials being subjected to strict protocols, leading Brownlow medallist Gerard Healy to lash the decision as “bizarre and downright negligent”.

“There is nothing more bizarre and downright negligent from a government authority than the behaviour, it seems, of ASADA,” he said on 3AW.

“The AFL are spending millions of dollars in complying with the government’s chief health officer’s demands to create isolation hubs to protect players from possible infection. Players themselves have accepted onerous living conditions to get the game underway.

Clubs are not permitted to let anyone in other than those approved under AFL guidelines. Picture: AAP Image

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“But at the same time, the government body is sending ASADA testing operatives into the hubs to test players for drugs but they themselves haven’t been tested for coronavirus. It seems bizarre.

“In trying to keep the game drug-free, they could infect players in the hubs and seriously disrupt the season. Ironically, the government body that’s in existence to keep the sport clean could in fact bring it down with its own lack of coronavirus hygiene.”

The league – as a signatory to the ASADA and WADA codes – cannot prevent testers from entering clubs, nor force them to be tested for the virus, as is consistent across all codes.

Testers, while in proximity to players during the process, wear face masks and sign documentation that they have not been in contact with any returned travellers from overseas or anyone confirmed to have the virus.

Originally published as ASADA drug testers will now be tested for COVID-19 after Brownlow Medalist Gerard Healy slammed AFL over initial arrangement