AFL coaching great Mick Malthouse has called for Melbourne swingman Joel Smith to have the book thrown at him by the league over his positive drugs test, in the hope that doing so will deter other players.
Smith was provisionally suspended by the league in early October after it was revealed he had tested positive for cocaine following the Demons’ Round 23 win over Hawthorn.
However, while the maximum suspension is a four-year ban, it is expected the 27-year old will receive a far lighter sentence, if he can persuade the World Anti-Doping Authority (WADA) that his illicit drug wasn’t taken with performance-enhancing intent.
If Smith does that as well as complete a drug treatment program, his ban could be reduced to as little as a month and be served over summer.
However, speaking on Nine’s Today, Malthouse, who coached for a VFL/AFL record 718 games spanning four decades at the Western Bulldogs, West Coast, Collingwood and Carlton, wants Smith to be made an example of.
“If you have a soft penalty, you get a soft result. It’s got to be very, very harsh first up,” Malthouse said.
“It’s [Smith’s suspension] got to be at least half a year to a year. You’ve got to set the tone. If someone pays a high price, it is a deterrent for the next person who thinks about it.
“It’s all nonsense. You know the consequences, you’ve got to suffer the penalty and the penalty has got to be really harsh.
“In the public eye, you love playing the game, you love getting good pay, but there’s a price to pay and the price is that drugs are out.
Joel Smith has been provisionally suspended after testing positive to cocaine use before an AFL match. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
“You are told that from the word go… I don’t think they should be nailed in the head first up, there has got to be a second chance – but the provision for penalties has got to be that harsh that it’s going to make a lot of people think where this ends up, instead of just a slap on the wrist and we go back and then we wait for the next one to appear.
“I don’t have any sympathy for the person because you’ve known from the word go, but then what you have to do is you have to look after that person.
“The price you pay for being a league footballer has got to be high because you’re in the public eye and you cannot avoid that.”
Malthouse also accused the AFL of deliberately attempting to ‘minimise the impact’ of Smith’s suspension, with the Demon having already served three weeks of any ban.
“They seem to reach in and find things that can minimise the impact of the penalty,” he said.
“Unfortunately, the AFL is always about image… sometimes a lot of these things get spread out, pushed underneath carpets and so forth.
“Keys stakeholders are rarely involved in this. As a coach point of view, you wouldn’t know whether a player tested positive or not because you’re not allowed to know, so therefore you have no input into how to help that player.”
Malthouse’s comments come in the wake of Demons coach Simon Goodwin admitting he is yet to speak with Smith since news of his positive drugs test broke.
“When I first heard, I was incredibly angry and frustrated to think that potentially we’ve got a player in Round 23, on the eve of a finals series, not doing everything possible to help the success of our footy team,” Goodwin told SEN.
“I can only imagine that same feeling would be permeating through our supporter base.
“I haven’t spoken to Joel, I’m going to let the process play out… because I’ve got a level of anger and frustration towards it.”
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
What does that mean?
Mr Right
Roar Rookie
https://www.google.com/search?q=have+many+australians+smoke+canabis&rlz=1C1VDKB_enAU1041AU1042&oq=&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqCQgAEEUYOxjCAzIJCAAQRRg7GMIDMgkIARBFGDsYwgMyCQgCEEUYOxjCAzIJCAMQRRg7GMIDMgkIBBBFGDsYwgMyCQgFEEUYOxjCAzIJCAYQRRg7GMIDMgkIBxBFGDsYwgPSAQkxMDA5ajBqMTWoAgiwAgE&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
AFL is not an Olympic power sport. AFL have rules that don't allow this. You are talking about "performance enhancing" drugs, anyway. We aren't. As far as your numbers go; some sports scientists (I noticed you went plural) might come up with those numbers but they would never be peer subscribed; they would be the nutty professors.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
My goodness. Puffing on a joint is a tiny proportion of our population; lucky to be one in a hundred or one in three hundred. You don't seem to be aware of how normal people live their lives. People with values are even more likely to say no to an offer to try. Your " everybody takes drugs" argument has got nothing to do with the AFL and it's players.
Mr Right
Roar Rookie
Why are only professional sports people tested for being stupid?
Ad Tastic
Roar Rookie
Who cares about recreational drugs
Mr Right
Roar Rookie
Alcohol is not illegal & cocaine is only performance enhancing when taken on gameday. Why is the AFL not categorising this under the three strikes policy?
Simon
Roar Rookie
Honestly in what world would you have 400 well played young blokes mostly based in Melbourne and not expect a few of them to get on the bags They shouldn’t even be testing them. Recreational drugs are a personal choice, makes no difference to you and I. You can say it’s because ‘kids follow the game’. Kids only find out because we test
adamkiwi
Roar Rookie
Drugs are a health issue, and should be treated as such. But, the reality is cocaine is a fubar drug for anyone participating in professional sport. Should be a stupidity penalty associated with getting tested positive for it.
Chanon
Roar Rookie
I don’t know how they will punish him. Suggestion if he pleads guilty & suggests it wasn’t taken for benefit of enhancing his ability on the ground he will get a lesser sentence. 6 months is reported but feel somewhere between 2 years & 4 most likely. I suggested guilty l mean remorseful.
Mr Right
Roar Rookie
you didn't answer my question.
Chanon
Roar Rookie
Regardless of the verdict his AFL career is over & that’s punishment enough one would think. AFL three strike policy has allowed players to flirt with danger & maybe that’s a starting point. The moon & the earth exert a gravitational pull on each other. These bulges create high tides probably have a similar effect on humans state of awareness with our appetite for drugs legal or illegal.
Mr Right
Roar Rookie
The Pav has never ever smoked a joint? There is a difference between taking performance enhancing steroids or smoking a joint a week before your next game. I am not advocating it. I am just querying at what level of society should an employer have the right to take random drug tests for recreational drug use from their employees? Should our politicians submit to regular testing? On a slight tangent, I firmly believe that once you get behind the wheel of a car, society should expect every driver to submit to mandatory testing. Being high & driving can kill innocent victims.
Mr Right
Roar Rookie
So what stance will they take? 4 years for Joel Wilson?
Blink
Roar Rookie
Hardly Don. Sports scientists think around 100 % of the top 15% of Olympic power sport performers have taken prohibited performance enhancing drugs. We're talking recreational drugs here but cocaine is potentially performance-enhancing. The rest aren't. Do they test players for alcohol?
Chanon
Roar Rookie
Mental Health of the player will always over ride logic thus the Players Association is the true keeper in such circumstances of acting on behalf of the individual regardless of fault or foibles.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
I'd be absolutely certain Pavlich wouldn't do that. The professionals you refer to are not playing elite sport. If you want to play elite sport for elite pay, the sport expects you to play by its rules. If you can't, don't sign up. Your constant argument is ridiculous. Let them play drugged up because other people do it. Idiots do it.
Mr Right
Roar Rookie
100%. But I think it's important for the players association to state its position on this issue so a player is totally aware of where they stand when they are caught in the moment.
Mr Right
Roar Rookie
A lot of successful doctors' lawyers, CEOs, school principals etc have experimented with recreational drugs. They are smart enough to realise that there is no future in it & they move on & achieve in life. No governing body is drug testing them & no one is aware of their indiscretions. Do you hold a teenage football player to a higher standard than your child's school principal? Please tell me that you truly believe Matthew Pavlich has never smoked the odd reefer. Has it affected his career?
Chanon
Roar Rookie
Players Association will always support players comfort’s especially when they get caught in the act. The displeasure of being caught is the crime not the crime itself. :stoked: