WAFL player tests positive for drugs

Posted June 13, 2011 15:35:00

West Australian Football League (WAFL) club East Perth has been engulfed in another drug scandal after a senior player tested positive to drugs.

The positive reading comes just a year after East Perth's Dean Cadwallader was handed a two-year ban for testing positive to anabolic steroid nandrolone.

The player to be caught up in the latest scandal will not be named until the B-sample test result has been conducted, which is expected from the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority by the end of the month.

It has been reported he tested positive to cocaine and steroids.

Swan Districts premiership player Travis Casserly is currently serving a two-year ban for testing positive to pseudoephedrine after the 2010 grand final.

The WAFL, which follows the anti-doping policy for football set by the AFL, released a statement stating: "A state level competition must provide role model leadership for all young and aspiring players. It is therefore committed to a drug free football environment.

"To ensure player compliance, the WAFL has an education policy conducted in conjunction with Sports Medicine Australia and WAFL club staff.

"Further to this policy, a drug testing program has been adopted and administered in partnership with the State Government, which involves random testing across the League.

"This is endorsed by all nine WAFL clubs with the specific aim of eliminating drug use in the competition and setting an example across all levels of football."

- AAP

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

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AFL records no positive drug tests

Posted May 13, 2011 15:17:00

No AFL player has recorded a positive test for a performance-enhancing drug in the latest 12-month testing period.

AFL operations manager Adrian Anderson says the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) had reported to the league that it had conducted almost 1,000 tests - from November 1, 2009 through to October 31, 2010 - with no positive test results.

Anderson says ASADA tested players in-competition and out-of-competition, as well as during the player holiday period.

The AFL and ASADA introduced testing for EPO, advanced blood-booster CERA and human Growth Hormone (hGH).

EPO, or Erythropoietin, became the drug of choice for cheating endurance athletes during the 1990s.

It increases the red-blood cell count which, in turn, improves endurance.

Human Growth Hormone helps with recovery, enabling an athlete to train more.

The AFL also expanded its blood-profiling program through the 12-month period. A number of players were repeat-tested.

Anderson boasted on Friday that the AFL was the first sport to pay for its own program to test for hGH, EPO and CERA.

"The AFL, with our medical commissioners, Dr Peter Harcourt and Dr Harry Unglik, constantly works with ASADA to review our anti-doping strategy, to make sure it is in line with the leading anti-doping trends and work in international sports," he said in a statement.

"Our commitment is that the AFL competition is conducted on the basis of athletic prowess and natural levels of fitness and development, and to set an example for all participants in Australian football by condemning the use of performance-enhancing substances."

Hawthorn's Travis Tuck last year became the first player to record three strikes under the AFL's illicit drugs policy after testing positive to GBH.

- AAP

Tags: sport, australian-football-league, australia

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