Demetriou talks drugs, tanking

HERALD Sun columnist Shane Crawford and footy writer Glenn McFarlane conduct a no holds barred Q&A with AFL boss Andrew Demetriou.

GLENN MCFARLANE: Thanks for agreeing to speak with us, Andrew. Does your long service leave seem like a long time again now?

ANDREW DEMETRIOU: It's always a pleasure to speak to you guys. Look, I haven't thought about it. We've been pretty busy since I got back. We had finals; we had lots of stuff post finals, Particularly with the John McCarthy tragedy and other issues we were working through.

SHANE CRAWFORD: Tanking; salary cap and drafting issues; performance-enhancing and illicit drugs. Was it the busiest off-season on record?

AD: Lots of things happened in the off-season. It's not unusual, given when the season is on, there is a lot of focus on clubs, players, performances and coaches.

ESSENDON

GM: Is it a given that Essendon will play out the entire season?

AD: I am very, very confident that the Essendon Football Club will be playing in 2013. I have got no reason to believe that they won't.

GM: What about the players still on their list from last year? Will they play out the whole year?

AD: We have got no reason to believe that they won't be. As you know there is a process underway that Essendon initiated. They should be commended for that. They are involved in a joint investigation that ASADA and the AFL are doing. There is nothing but co-operation and working through its process and we should let that investigation run its course.

GM: Are you more confident about Essendon today than you were in Canberra earlier this month?

AD:  I know a lot more today and more things have come out since. We take the ACC announcement in Canberra very seriously.

GM: Gerard Healy said that he told Adrian Anderson last year about unusual practices at Essendon. Were you aware of that?

AD: Yes.

GM: Did you investigate it at the time?

AD: I can't go into too much detail, but we were aware of it. The information was shared with the appropriate people. There were some people spoken to and it formed part of the ACC report.

GM: Is there a penalty clause in the TV rights deal if you don't have nine games a week?

AD: I am not contemplating in any shape or form not having 18 teams playing this year, nine games a week.

SC: How has Essendon handled this whole situation?

AD: David Evans has shown great leadership. He has taken this seriously since the day he contacted me and said he wanted to come in because he was asking questions and he didn't like the questions he was getting. I know some supporters feel let down and outraged, but they have the best possible person trying to lead them through this.

AFL boss Andrew Demetriou vows to maintain the integrity of the sport. Source: Herald Sun

BAN INJECTIONS

SC: How would you feel if your son or daughter went to a sporting organisation and was told they needed to have injections into the stomach to help performance and recovery?

AD: If that is what happened, Shane, and I don't know if it did or didn't, as a parent, I wouldn't be happy.

SC: Will you stop sports science staff from conducting injections on players, especially into their stomachs.

AD: Absolutely. There is an audit going on of all supplements. We have got our AFL medical officers sitting down with club doctors, reviewing practices, particularly use of external people. There is going to be a restriction on the use of injections. There will be a ban on the use of IV at clubs -- not just on game day. We are implementing some very, very serious measures to restore the treatments of players under one person and that is the club doctor.

SC: Does that include pain-killing injections?AD: No, pain-killing injections have a legitimate use, but we'll limit the use of injections.

ROGUE ELEMENTS

GM: Have you read the riot act to the clubs?

AD: There are vulnerabilities at clubs in relation to performance-enhacing drugs, illicit drugs, match fixing and organised crime. We have talked about a road map of things that you should look for at clubs, things like ex-players, anti-ageing clinics, gyms, tattoo parlours.

SC: What are you going to do about it?

AD: We have drawn a line in the sand. We are going to put a stop to rogue elements at clubs and the insidious nature of some individuals who are trying to spoil it for the rest of the code. It is only a handful of people but it can cause significant damage. The public are entitled to be questioning the values of the code because they are wondering given what has happened with Melbourne, Adelaide and Essendon. I have said the issues of values, core principles and ethics in the code are non-negotiables.

GM: Have some clubs let the code down?

AD: Individuals certainly have. Sometimes individuals have let their own clubs down.

GM: Can you understand why some people are having trust issues with the game now?

AD: I certainly can, because in this organisation we pride ourselves on very, very strong core values, on being transparent, being honest, acting with integrity, acting with the right ethics. That's what the public expects. It is something that should apply in any organisation; any club; any business.

TANKING

SC: Are you happy with tanking findings?

AD: I don't know if happy is the right word. There is nothing happy about it. This was a very detailed investigation. It was eight months of nearly 60 interviews and repeat interviews.

An 800-page brief was prepared, We sought the advice of an external QC to make sure we were on the right track.

They came to the view there was insufficient evidence to charge the Melbourne Football Club. But there were two individuals (Chris Connolly and Dean Bailey) who came forward to please guilty and they have been dealt with.

They (Melbourne) were fined $500,000, a significant amount of money, to bear some responsibility.

It is true that some people will find that outcome difficult to comprehend. But you can only deal with the facts.

We do not manufacture outcomes to suit certain situations.

Under no circumstances was the outcome because of the threat of legal action or was it because we wanted to make it all go away or we didn't want to punish Melbourne because they are not travelling well.

We went through a professional process.GM: Was it a big mistake that you were not at press conference?

AD: This was an investigation conducted by the general manager of football operations. In the main that was Adrian (Anderson) then Gil (McLachlan) took over.

I have never read the 800-page document. I am not across all the details.

I wasn't involved in discussions with Melbourne, or with Bailey or Connolly. It was entirely appropriate for the general manager of football operations to conduct the press conference.

It is not true that I didn't go to the press conference because I was running away from being asked about my views on tanking.

I'm happy to answer any of those questions. In hindsight, would it have been better to try and dispel that myth?

Absolutely. I am the CEO and I am on the AFL Commission, I would have happily gone along to the press conferences. I would have answered any questions put to me.

SC: So you regret not being there?

AD: I regret not being there because of the commentary surrounding it, but I do not regret not being there because of the proper process we went through.

GM: Gil said he did not have a proper definition of tanking?

AD: Under the AFL rules, tanking means not playing on your merits. Gil showed me that if you go to the dictionary to look up the definition of tanking, it is not actually in there.

And there is no evidence in this whole eight-month investigation that any player went out there not trying to win or Dean Bailey didn't try to win on match day.

ILLICIT DRUGS

GM: You've admitted there will be a spike in the number of positive illicit drug tests from last year. When will the figures be released and what about speculation it could be four times higher than 2011?

AD: The recording will finish at the end of February. We always release the results in May. We knew there would be a spike purely on the fact that there has been a 21 per cent increase in the community. The Victorian police told us that at the summit. These are alarm bells for the community. We are alarmed and we won't be surprised by a spike.

GM: Have you been privy to some of the results already?

AD: Don't forget we are doing more tests; more target tests; we have got hair testing happening in summer for statistical purposes. The issue of an increase is a wake-up call for the community and for our code.

INTEGRITY

GM: You are about to put on three more full-time people into the integrity unit...

AD: And we are investing more in data-base management, surveillance and intelligence gathering. Brett Clothier (AFL competition regulation manager) is finalising this budget now. It will be a substantial investment.

SC: Tell us about the surveillance?

AD: It is a very, very sophistication methodology we have got in place, but we need to beef it up more. I don't want to talk about it publicly. The stuff we know and find out helps protect the industry.

GM: How closely do you deal with agencies?AD: We have good relationships with the police, the ACC, ASADA and all of the bodies we need to have. Information sharing is crucial.

GM: Where do you see the AFL integrity unit in five years?

AD: It will just be a very, very important part of our game. Just take a look at the ACC report. It talks about the people who seek to infiltrate the game. All you can do is try and protect the integrity of the game. The greatest threat to the game is the people who seek to challenge its integrity.

HIS FUTURE

SC: Will we be talking to you, as AFL CEO, at this time next year?

AD: This is my favourite interview I do all year. You can lock it in now (for next year) unless you know something that I don't know.

GM: You've been described as tired and distracted? How committed are you to the role?

AD: You cannot be distracted in this role. You deal with a multitude of issues concurrently. Some of them are unexpected. But it is a great privilege to do this role. No one forces you to do it. I'm not distracted. I'm not tired. I am very excited about the season ahead. I am very excited about the new people we are about to appoint and bring in to reinvigorate the executive.

SC: What about Jeff Kennett calling for you to be sacked?

AD: Jeff has had strong views for a long time on how he believes an organisation should be run, with heavy input from the board. The AFL Commission operates on a different model with the executive running the day-to-day management of the competition. Jeff is entitled to his view but I won't get into a debate with him about the AFL's structure, or his wider views.

SC: What sort of bonus will you get this year?

AD: Probably a mattress for in here (AFL headquarters) because apparently I'm tired (laughs).

SC: Maybe they can send you to the Golden Door health retreat.

AD: Not the Golden Door, because you will see everyone you know. Maybe somewhere with a funky name -- the Banskia Magnolia or something like that.

SC: What about some peptides?

AD: No, Shane.

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