http://www.realfooty.com.au/articles/20 ... 52277.html
Eagle says club ignored drug use
Martin Boulton | October 19, 2007
WEST Coast officials failed to act on warnings about illicit drug use by players six years ago, according to one former player, who said the problem was pushed under the carpet.
"I knew what was going on. Me and another player went to the coaching staff and told them. We informed them about drug use," the former player said.
In 2002, he was told to keep quiet after raising his concerns about player behaviour with members of the coaching staff and administration.
.......
More and more interesting by the day...
No blame for the Eagles?
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saintspremiers
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the eagles aren't out of the woods yet....
THE hellish football tragedy that is Ben Cousins, his fallen career and dismal prospects continued to baffle the AFL and its commission last night as competition boss Andrew Demetriou prepared to return early from France while his board of directors individually pondered what might have been.
While the poll-driven federal politicians continued to link Cousins' ruination with the flawed AFL illicit drugs policy, the sad fact remains that Cousins would have been Cousins whatever the rules and no decision on the three strikes will take place until after the election.
The tougher question for the competition remains how to deal with West Coast. Demetriou, who met the still hostile Gaelic Athletic Association in Paris late yesterday, was keeping his cards close to his chest, but it remains highly unlikely the club will face any further harsh punishment.
Demetriou took the decision to miss the rugby World Cup final and last night was trying to catch an early flight home. Clearly, that move was as much for appearances as anything else because in the short term, Cousins himself is beyond AFL help.
But this is a crisis for the competition, a crisis that remains laced with hypocrisy. From West Coast's point of view, the club has hit rock bottom.
One Brownlow Medal-winning captain looks certain never to play again and another — the best player in the competition — simply didn't want to be there.
Yet another dual premiership-winning favourite son is dead with a cocktail of illegal drugs in his system, and sponsors are bailing out.
Only one of the three-man champion midfield, Daniel Kerr, remains at the club and the harsh truth is that if the Eagles were truly serious about changing their culture, they should probably remove him, too. They won't. A fourth in Chad Fletcher clinically died in Las Vegas late last year and a senior football official was present. If the club truly addressed that issue in terms of punishment, it was subtle about it.
Only Daniel Chick has been sacked, but he is 31 and there is a view on the commission that West Coast let him go too late, keeping him on its list until a fortnight ago. Still, it would be wrong to portray Chick as the sole offender in all this.
Chick was not around when Cousins and Michael Gardiner — captain and vice-captain of the club — were cavorting with Perth's best-known underworld figures as long ago as 2001. Nor was he involved in the litany of early misdemeanours and warning signs that former club chiefs ranging from Brian Cook to Ken Judge tried to alert the board about.'
The club's chairman-elect Mark Barnaba and chief executive Trevor Nisbett faced the media two nights ago to announce Cousins' sacking, while Dalton Gooding granted interviews from Italy. All those men have endured a dreadful time; all must take some responsibility for a culture that looks far from fixed.
Nisbett, in particular, has been through hell. He is a players' man and tried to claim on Melbourne radio yesterday that certain aspects of the Eagles' problems had been blown out of all proportion.
He is kidding himself. Nisbett also said that the club had put processes in place last November to fix the problems. That was before the Cousins disintegration, Kerr's latest misdemeanours and Chick's unsavoury pre-season involvement with Cousins, to name just three issues.
Were Nisbett the chief executive of, say, BHP, the staff crisis would have had him resign by now but that is not the Eagles' style and Nisbett, like Gooding and Barnaba, has a close ally in Demetriou.
The fact remains that the club, the West Australian Police and even the WA Government have been complicit in what was clearly a cover-up that was played out over several years and now has unravelled. The AFL is a well-connected organisation and knew the stories. It must have been hearing them for years.
It aided and abetted West Coast in bringing Cousins back to football so soon after his trip to California and the commission ducked its head when it had the chance to penalise the Eagles in May.
It will meet next month — about a week before the national draft — and consider penalising the club in the form of draft picks and money and even premiership points but that would be to shut the gate after the horse had bolted.
Cousins is a drug addict who is probably lucky to be alive and who still doesn't get it. That he never came to terms with the harsh fact of his addiction and the way he let down his club and his code seemed to have been lost on West Coast and the AFL — publicly at least.
It is not lost on them now. The AFL and the Eagles are rightly angry at Cousins for his refusal to face the music. But the men in power at West Coast — the same ones who watched their social disease spread while they strived for a premiership — surely must be questioning their own futures.
....from caro......
THE hellish football tragedy that is Ben Cousins, his fallen career and dismal prospects continued to baffle the AFL and its commission last night as competition boss Andrew Demetriou prepared to return early from France while his board of directors individually pondered what might have been.
While the poll-driven federal politicians continued to link Cousins' ruination with the flawed AFL illicit drugs policy, the sad fact remains that Cousins would have been Cousins whatever the rules and no decision on the three strikes will take place until after the election.
The tougher question for the competition remains how to deal with West Coast. Demetriou, who met the still hostile Gaelic Athletic Association in Paris late yesterday, was keeping his cards close to his chest, but it remains highly unlikely the club will face any further harsh punishment.
Demetriou took the decision to miss the rugby World Cup final and last night was trying to catch an early flight home. Clearly, that move was as much for appearances as anything else because in the short term, Cousins himself is beyond AFL help.
But this is a crisis for the competition, a crisis that remains laced with hypocrisy. From West Coast's point of view, the club has hit rock bottom.
One Brownlow Medal-winning captain looks certain never to play again and another — the best player in the competition — simply didn't want to be there.
Yet another dual premiership-winning favourite son is dead with a cocktail of illegal drugs in his system, and sponsors are bailing out.
Only one of the three-man champion midfield, Daniel Kerr, remains at the club and the harsh truth is that if the Eagles were truly serious about changing their culture, they should probably remove him, too. They won't. A fourth in Chad Fletcher clinically died in Las Vegas late last year and a senior football official was present. If the club truly addressed that issue in terms of punishment, it was subtle about it.
Only Daniel Chick has been sacked, but he is 31 and there is a view on the commission that West Coast let him go too late, keeping him on its list until a fortnight ago. Still, it would be wrong to portray Chick as the sole offender in all this.
Chick was not around when Cousins and Michael Gardiner — captain and vice-captain of the club — were cavorting with Perth's best-known underworld figures as long ago as 2001. Nor was he involved in the litany of early misdemeanours and warning signs that former club chiefs ranging from Brian Cook to Ken Judge tried to alert the board about.'
The club's chairman-elect Mark Barnaba and chief executive Trevor Nisbett faced the media two nights ago to announce Cousins' sacking, while Dalton Gooding granted interviews from Italy. All those men have endured a dreadful time; all must take some responsibility for a culture that looks far from fixed.
Nisbett, in particular, has been through hell. He is a players' man and tried to claim on Melbourne radio yesterday that certain aspects of the Eagles' problems had been blown out of all proportion.
He is kidding himself. Nisbett also said that the club had put processes in place last November to fix the problems. That was before the Cousins disintegration, Kerr's latest misdemeanours and Chick's unsavoury pre-season involvement with Cousins, to name just three issues.
Were Nisbett the chief executive of, say, BHP, the staff crisis would have had him resign by now but that is not the Eagles' style and Nisbett, like Gooding and Barnaba, has a close ally in Demetriou.
The fact remains that the club, the West Australian Police and even the WA Government have been complicit in what was clearly a cover-up that was played out over several years and now has unravelled. The AFL is a well-connected organisation and knew the stories. It must have been hearing them for years.
It aided and abetted West Coast in bringing Cousins back to football so soon after his trip to California and the commission ducked its head when it had the chance to penalise the Eagles in May.
It will meet next month — about a week before the national draft — and consider penalising the club in the form of draft picks and money and even premiership points but that would be to shut the gate after the horse had bolted.
Cousins is a drug addict who is probably lucky to be alive and who still doesn't get it. That he never came to terms with the harsh fact of his addiction and the way he let down his club and his code seemed to have been lost on West Coast and the AFL — publicly at least.
It is not lost on them now. The AFL and the Eagles are rightly angry at Cousins for his refusal to face the music. But the men in power at West Coast — the same ones who watched their social disease spread while they strived for a premiership — surely must be questioning their own futures.
....from caro......
.everybody still loves lenny....and we always will
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barks4eva
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when they sing "We're the Eagles, we're flying high" that alone should have been enough to alert the powers that be
blatant disregard for the rules and they even have the gall to sing about it
Demetriou is complicit, he should go for presiding over this mess with a feather duster and a wet lettuce
the eagles should lose all their draft picks, cop a million dollar fine and put most of their list into rehab
FAIR DINKUM
blatant disregard for the rules and they even have the gall to sing about it
Demetriou is complicit, he should go for presiding over this mess with a feather duster and a wet lettuce
the eagles should lose all their draft picks, cop a million dollar fine and put most of their list into rehab
FAIR DINKUM
DO THE MATHS AND THE SQUARES ARE ALL ROOTED.
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saintspremiers
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Amen brother.barks4eva wrote:when they sing "We're the Eagles, we're flying high" that alone should have been enough to alert the powers that be
blatant disregard for the rules and they even have the gall to sing about it
Demetriou is complicit, he should go for presiding over this mess with a feather duster and a wet lettuce
the eagles should lose all their draft picks, cop a million dollar fine and put most of their list into rehab
FAIR DINKUM
See, it's not Groundhog day everyday!!!
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GrumpyOne
Huge wishful thinking B4E.barks4eva wrote:when they sing "We're the Eagles, we're flying high" that alone should have been enough to alert the powers that be
blatant disregard for the rules and they even have the gall to sing about it
Demetriou is complicit, he should go for presiding over this mess with a feather duster and a wet lettuce
the eagles should lose all their draft picks, cop a million dollar fine and put most of their list into rehab
FAIR DINKUM
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casey scorp
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I can't see why there is any question that the Eagles should be penalised. They cheated by playing a player who was on drugs which gave him a performance boost. If they didn't know about it, they could argue ignorance. But they did know about his drug habit, but pretended to be taken in by the US treatment. They must have been dead-keen to get him back on the park.
When those pricks came back and beat us in Round 21 and Cousins had almost all of his 28 disposals in the 2nd half, I thought he'd gone in at half time and got more than a pep talk. They deserve to lose draft picks because their willing acceptance of Cousins allowed them to affect the result of matches.
The Eagles should be penalised.....AFL cut the crocodile tears.... Just Do It!
When those pricks came back and beat us in Round 21 and Cousins had almost all of his 28 disposals in the 2nd half, I thought he'd gone in at half time and got more than a pep talk. They deserve to lose draft picks because their willing acceptance of Cousins allowed them to affect the result of matches.
The Eagles should be penalised.....AFL cut the crocodile tears.... Just Do It!
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saintsRrising
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From the article...by a former eagles player...
"They were told six years ago about it and they pushed it under the carpet."
"I've seen this for the last year and a half, all these little incidents that keep happening, keep happening and they (the club) keep doing (nothing) about it," he said.
"I just can't believe how the AFL hasn't come in and said, 'Boys, this is our brand you're f---ing up here. If you don't get rid of him (Cousins), we'll get rid of him'.
Damning stuff...
"They were told six years ago about it and they pushed it under the carpet."
"I've seen this for the last year and a half, all these little incidents that keep happening, keep happening and they (the club) keep doing (nothing) about it," he said.
"I just can't believe how the AFL hasn't come in and said, 'Boys, this is our brand you're f---ing up here. If you don't get rid of him (Cousins), we'll get rid of him'.
Damning stuff...
Flying the World in comfort thanks to FF Points....
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Carl Mynott
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The fucka is being victimised..
The cops dropped the drug charges because they needed something more substantial than the bulls*** they ran with initially that has now cost BC his career......
Once you have been deemed sus you will be victimised,even arrested for farting in an elevator.........
I hope Ben nominates for the draft,is ruled ineligable by dimwit and then sues the fuckers and ends up with enough cash for a comfortable retirement.....
The cops dropped the drug charges because they needed something more substantial than the bulls*** they ran with initially that has now cost BC his career......
Once you have been deemed sus you will be victimised,even arrested for farting in an elevator.........
I hope Ben nominates for the draft,is ruled ineligable by dimwit and then sues the fuckers and ends up with enough cash for a comfortable retirement.....
The more things change the more they stay the same
Carl Mynott wrote:The fucka is being victimised..
The cops dropped the drug charges because they needed something more substantial than the bulls*** they ran with initially that has now cost BC his career......
Once you have been deemed sus you will be victimised,even arrested for farting in an elevator.........
I hope Ben nominates for the draft,is ruled ineligable by dimwit and then sues the fuckers and ends up with enough cash for a comfortable retirement.....
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Lynch Beast
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Disgruntled player says players are on drugs but has no proof - not much the board can do given the state of the playing list at the time & lack of guidance from the AFL (time before off season testing)
Board asks players if they are using drugs, players lie - nothing the club can do without proof, have to wait until the AFL catch them through drug testing. All they can do is suspect that they are using and keep a close eye on them.
AFL never catch them with drugs (cept a certain ruckman, twice) in their system but players begin to be moved on, some are traded and some are delisted.
Club sacks the captain and brings in a new leadership group & totally change their approach to the situation. Only problem is that 3 or 4 of the over 27 year old players couldn't give a s*** and continue on with there ways.
One player gets about 6 games with the club for the year but the club feels he wont touch anything illegal again, one is sent to the best rehab possible, the other is given intensive counceling/guidance & rules to stick to and the other is informed that he won't have his contract renewed.
What else can the club do ?
They have sacked the ones that have refused to change their ways and have put the ones that have used in the past on a very short leash.
maybe hook every player to a polygraph, question them on ANY substance use in their life and if a positive test they are sacked ?
Schofield's & Hansen's parents have come out and said how great the initiatives are that have been implemented, if players are going to use drugs then there is nothing anybody can say to stop them.
Don't forget there is a certain eastern suburbs team that have no less than 7 positive tested players on their list, none have been sacked to date. This is far from an isolated problem and the AFL need to do more than blame the clubs.
Board asks players if they are using drugs, players lie - nothing the club can do without proof, have to wait until the AFL catch them through drug testing. All they can do is suspect that they are using and keep a close eye on them.
AFL never catch them with drugs (cept a certain ruckman, twice) in their system but players begin to be moved on, some are traded and some are delisted.
Club sacks the captain and brings in a new leadership group & totally change their approach to the situation. Only problem is that 3 or 4 of the over 27 year old players couldn't give a s*** and continue on with there ways.
One player gets about 6 games with the club for the year but the club feels he wont touch anything illegal again, one is sent to the best rehab possible, the other is given intensive counceling/guidance & rules to stick to and the other is informed that he won't have his contract renewed.
What else can the club do ?
They have sacked the ones that have refused to change their ways and have put the ones that have used in the past on a very short leash.
maybe hook every player to a polygraph, question them on ANY substance use in their life and if a positive test they are sacked ?
Schofield's & Hansen's parents have come out and said how great the initiatives are that have been implemented, if players are going to use drugs then there is nothing anybody can say to stop them.
Don't forget there is a certain eastern suburbs team that have no less than 7 positive tested players on their list, none have been sacked to date. This is far from an isolated problem and the AFL need to do more than blame the clubs.
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Bernard Shakey
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