Former Magpies champion comes clean

Updated September 19, 2012 12:42:37

Collingwood premiership star Gavin Crosisca has admitted battling drink and drug addiction throughout his 25-year playing and coaching career.

The champion defender said the trouble began when he first sipped alcohol at the age of 15 and involved an amphetamine addiction after taking it at during the Magpies' 1990 premiership celebrations.

"Before I came to Collingwood my addiction was on fire inside me," Crosisca told Fox Sports.

"I actually brought a reasonable amount of cannabis down here when I first moved to Melbourne and I thought that was going to be it.

"I was hoping I'd be able to work my way through it, put it behind me and then look at getting into a positive football career."

Crosisca said his drug addiction was an anti-social habit and one he kept from team-mates and his family.

"It's cost myself and my family enormously - emotionally, spiritually, materially, mentally, it cost us everything, especially my wife," he said.

"It ended up completely devastating my family and my life as I knew it.

"All I'd known was masking, covering feelings and emotions up with drugs for so long. On reflection it's a lot of manipulation, a lot of lies, a lot of dishonesty.

"If ever I was confronted it would be defensive responses from me, blaming others."

"I was feeling it was perfect for me, it just gave me confidence, it allowed me to communicate well and it changed the person I thought I was."

Crosisca is one of the most decorated VFL/AFL players to come from Queensland, having played 246 games for Collingwood, before taking on assistant coaching roles at North Melbourne, Hawthorn and Carlton.

Tags: sport, australian-football-league, collingwood-3066

First posted September 19, 2012 11:39:06

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Former sex crime squad boss pleads guilty to leaks

By court reporter Sarah Farnsworth

Updated May 14, 2012 17:08:01

The former boss of the Victoria Police sex crimes squad Glenn Davies has been described in the Melbourne Magistrates Court as a passionate visionary whose life was ruined after he was charged with misconduct.

Davies has pleaded guilty to the unauthorised disclosure of police information for conversations he had with two reporters from the Herald Sun and The Age newspapers.

He was suspended from the force and later resigned after an Office of Police Integrity (OPI) probe.

Prosecutors have told the court he spoke with Anthony Dowsley from the Herald Sun and John Silvester from The Age about two high profile cases being investigated by the sex crime department.

One of the cases involved the questioning of a number of Collingwood football players over an alleged rape after the team's 2010 grand final win.

Davies' lawyer told the court stories about the investigation involving the Magpies had already been published by media outlets before Davies spoke in confidence with Mr Silvester.

He told the court his client had a professional working relationship with journalists and used the media to educate the public about sexual crimes and foster faith that all allegations would be fully investigated.

A fellow detective Inspector Ken Ashworth described Davies as a passionate and tenacious police officer who bought vision and purpose to the sex crime department.

Detective Ashworth told the court Davies bought a culture shift to the squad which had fostered a 'she deserved it' attitude over certain sex crimes, such as date rape or assaults on prostitutes.

He said under Davies, the investigations became more hands on and were handled with sympathy.

The court heard Davies was devastated when he was suspended.

"[It] meant everything. It was his life. It meant everything to him", Detective Ashworth said.

"His whole life collapsed ... he lost 29 years of service to Victoria."

"It was catastrophic for him."

The Prosecutor argued Davies spoke to the journalists knowing it was a breach of his obligations and it had the capacity to compromise an investigation.

She told the court, confirming as rumour constitutes disclosing information.

The Magistrate was urged to record a conviction against the former detective for what was described as 'serious offending.'

Davies' lawyers argued the loss of his career has crushed him and should be punishment enough.

He will be sentenced tomorrow.

Tags: police, crime, law-crime-and-justice, australian-football-league, media, melbourne-3000

First posted May 14, 2012 12:50:40

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Former skipper takes over as Thunder CEO

By James Glenday

Updated November 04, 2011 18:23:12

The Northern Territory Thunder has appointed former captain Jarred Ilett as its new chief executive.

Ilett replaces Stuart Totham, who oversaw the Thunder from the club's inception three years ago.

The announcement of the team's new coach is expected over the weekend.

Premiership winning coach Murray Davis left the Thunder last month to join the Brisbane Lions.

However, retired Adelaide Crows champion, Andrew McLeod, has ruled himself out of the Thunder coaching role.

Tags: sport, sports-organisations, australian-football-league, darwin-0800

First posted November 04, 2011 18:18:09

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Magpies call on former soccer star

Published:Thursday, July 7, 2011 7:22 AESTExpires:Wednesday, October 5, 2011 7:22 AEST

Collingwood has selected Lachlan Keefe to replace injured forward Chris Dawes.

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Tags: australian-football-league, nrl, melbourne-3000

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Drug ban upheld for former Tiger

Posted June 3, 2011 20:46:00

Former Richmond defender Travis Casserly will remain barred from playing football at any level until the end of 2012 after his appeal against a doping offence was dismissed on Friday.

Casserly, who was on the Tigers' AFL list between 2006-08, was suspended for the 2011 and 2012 seasons after testing positive to restricted substance pseudoephedrine following last year's WAFL grand final win by Swan Districts.

The 24-year-old, who was a chance to regain his spot on Richmond's list earlier this year via the rookie draft before being handed the penalty, challenged the severity of the ban, which was the maximum he could receive.

Casserly argued he had taken two Sudafed tablets during the grand final to merely treat a bout of hay fever.

But the WAFL Appeals Panel dismissed Casserly's appeal, declaring the original decision by WAFL Tribunal Chairman Paul Heaney "was not erroneous or unreasonable given the evidence".

"Under the Australian Football League Anti-Doping Code if a player uses pseudoephedrine there is a mandatory two-year disqualification unless he shows that he did not use it to enhance his performance," the WAFL said in a statement.

"After hearing evidence, the Tribunal was not satisfied that Casserly did not use it to enhance his performance and found that he did. It then imposed the mandatory disqualification of two years."

- AAP

Tags: sport, australian-football-league, wafl, australia, vic, richmond-3121, wa, perth-6000

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