The AFL’s controversial drugs policy produced another drama over the weekend, with Channel Seven reporting that two players, allegedly from a Victoria club, had twice tested positive to illicit drugs.

Seven News reporter Dylan Howard broke the story on Friday night after the station paid $3,000 to a woman who claims to have found the medical reports in a gutter near an Ivanhoe hospital.

Shortly after the allegations aired, the AFL and the club involved obtained an injunction to prevent the media from reporting the story. It is believed that the players involved will play in the finals.

Speaking on radio the following day, AFL boss Andrew Demetriou was furious at the media for reporting the story, noting that broadcasting of medical details was “obscene”. Demetriou seemed far angrier at the media for reporting the story than at either the players who were caught taking illegal drugs on two separate occasions or the breakdown of its own drug testing system. Demetriou didn’t just shoot the messenger, he danced on his grave.

Fact is, beyond anything Channel Seven revealed, the real story is the critical failure of the AFL drug detection and results management system. Blaming ambitious journalists does nothing to disguise that.

The revelations come only weeks after Jason Akermanis accused West Coast eagle, Michael Braun, of taking the performance enhancing drug EPO, on the basis that the Eagles star “ran like Superman”. The AFL roundly condemned the Bulldog, even hinting that he may be charged with bringing the game into disrepute, thus proving that while the AFL may be soft on drugs, they are certainly hard on the real “villains”, being of course the whistleblowers.

ASADA later cleared Braun of any wrongdoing, based on “previous drug test history, as well as target testing him and reviewing available intelligence.” One wonders exactly what “available intelligence” ASADA was referring to when it cleared Braun. Presumably, if Braun had previously tested positive, it would have been revealed several years ago and he would have been disciplined at the time.

Further, it is anyone’s guess exactly what “previous drug history” ASADA could have used to clear Braun. In recent times, only 500 drug tests were administered to AFL players each year. With 670 players in the AFL, and some players being tested on multiple occasions, that means that each player is tested on average, about once every 18 months. How ASADA could conclusively “clear” Braun of taking EPO when in all likelihood, he probably wasn’t tested for a year, is another question. ASADA certainly did not specify that Braun was tested on the night that Akermanis made the allegation.

The AFL’s infrequent drug testing was borne out in the Ben Cousins case, with Cousins never testing positive for any drug, but later traveling to the US to recover from a career-threatening methamphetamine addiction.

While Akermanis’ allegation is based on scant evidence, and Braun’s reputation has very unfairly been cast in doubt, the AFL’s harsh reaction to Akermanis, and its furious attempts to suppress reporting of the most recent drugs furor proves that it is a long way from resolving the drug issue. As any addict knows, the first step is to admit to a problem – something which the AFL seems incapable of. doing.