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[olBj]

No, it's tantamount to accepting that this is a societal issue and expecting football players to be somehow different to the rest of their cohort would lead to constant headlines of players failing drug tests.

The AFL had a spate of drug test breaches that was creating a whole lot of negative publicity for the game, and they came up with this approach in concert with the AFL version of the RLPA.

The ARLC then copied it (from what I've heard).

And WADA also turn a blind eye to it.

So are we seriously saying that the interests of the game and the sponsors effectively comes before the interests of the players?
If that is correct, then the whole thing stinks.
If the game is turning a blind eye to drugs while maintaining a veneer of a clean game, how on earth is this in the best short, medium and long term interests of the players?
I may be old fashioned, but I say test them often and randomly and if testing positive, suspend offenders for as long as it takes to stamp it out.
All other things being equal, if a player appears unfit and below form and overweight, I suspect alcohol abuse.
Otherwise I often suspect some other abuse.
Again I accept that so many other factors come into play too.
However, what I have said above is purely my opinion and to be honest, I dont really care if any of you disagree. We will just have to beg to differ on this one.