The interview with the President of the
AFLPA Paul Marsh this morning is really worth a listen (sorry, you’ll also have to hear Gary Lyon). It gives some really good context and of all the commentary I’ve heard in the last day it seemed the most measured.
The short point is that if you think of players taking illicit drugs as drug cheats or criminals, the AFL’s approach will never make sense. I honestly think leaving drug testing to the WADA / drug cheat model would be irresponsible, but trying to thread the needle of keeping WADA onside (and the public funding tied to it) and look after the welfare of certain young men is really tough.
I think the AFL’s approach is correct, but the approach after the first strike, while I think admirable, does seem to be at odds with how I understood the strike system worked. I understood that after the first strike players went into a program, but I didn’t know that for the handful of players Marsh talks about that the program was so hands-on as to be trying to prevent them from getting the second strike.
