2006 Grand Final: Performance Enhanced?

[BushDemon]

If as John Worsfold alluded to on last nights footy show, he knew about some players with drug problems since July.

Would it be outside the realms of possibility that some players were using some sort of performance enhancing drug up to and including the Grand Final?

I know this is never going to happen but it is food for thought....... Did WCE win the grand final using performance enhancing drugs? Could/Would they have been stripped of the title if drug tests came back positive in the days immediately after the GF?

They strip winners of their titles in other sports....Swimming, Athletics.

What do others think......playing the devils advocate.
Bushy.

 

[oak79]

There's been no suggestion that anyone has used performance enhancing drugs.

Don't try and make more stuff up - theres enough rubbish out there already. If you wanna make stuff up - do it about your own club.

 

[Ripper]

It certainly proves that drug testing on game day should be expanded dramatically to eliminate any doubt that this revelation from Woosh will cause.

500 tests per year (that includes Out of season testing) when there are over 7000 player/games per year does not re assure anyone that offenders will be caught.

Unfortunately You cannot help but wonder when the Players that led the magnificent last quarter comebacks are the same players involved in the current debacle.

 

[BushDemon]

I'm not making things up......What I am saying is that the drug testing is flawed. The whole drugs issue has opened up a huge can of worms and like I said in the original post, I'm just playing the devils advocate here and looking at different scenario's.


I think if a player is found to have "DRUGS" in his system when tested, the player should be outed and the type of drug identified. It shouldn't matter if the drugs were "performance enhancing" or "recreational"

Has the issue added doubt to some victories?

 

[NorWest Bomber]

Has the issue added doubt to some victories?

No, West Coast won it fair and square.

 

[Bollox]

Big issue we'll hear more about over the next few days.

Personally i'm disappointed their flag may be tainted coz i see it as a very fair victory....and i dont see that the club name should be dragged thru the mud over the stupidity of a few twits.

 

[Borgsta]

I think it's disgraceful that every player in the GF isn't drug tested.

 

[Traffic Light]

The only way it would help is if the players took the drugs immediatly before the game....if not it would be a hinderance.

 

[discoduck]

If as John Worsfold alluded to on last nights footy show, he knew about some players with drug problems since July.

Would it be outside the realms of possibility that some players were using some sort of performance enhancing drug up to and including the Grand Final?

I know this is never going to happen but it is food for thought....... Did WCE win the grand final using performance enhancing drugs? Could/Would they have been stripped of the title if drug tests came back positive in the days immediately after the GF?

They strip winners of their titles in other sports....Swimming, Athletics.

What do others think......playing the devils advocate.
Bushy.

i don't see how ice or ecstacy or speed or marijuana or any of these recreational drugs are performance enhancing. i agree with oak - i think you, bushy, are substituting your own words amongst the facts that have come out in the last few days.

to answer your other question, if a player was to return a positive test for steriods or something truly performance enhancing on grand final day, then yes, i think the result should be quashed and either replay without that player or award to the opposition.

 

[bergholt]

I think if a player is found to have "DRUGS" in his system when tested, the player should be outed and the type of drug identified. It shouldn't matter if the drugs were "performance enhancing" or "recreational"

Has the issue added doubt to some victories?

Of course it should matter if the drugs were "performance enhancing" or "recreational", for exactly the reasons you say. If someone's sucking down bongs before a game then they've got a problem, but it's not cheating. Whereas if someone's injecting roids all week before the grannie, that's cheating big time.

They really should be making a distinction between illicit recreational drugs and illicit performance enhancing drugs.

 

[daddy_4_eyes]

Performance Enhancing Drugs need to be taken over a period of time for there to be any visible benefits, which means players using PED's are likely to get caught. PED's also tend to stay in the system a lot longer than recreational drugs, so its not exactly like users can time their use of these drugs to avoid being tested.

Quite simply, I can't imagine PED's are used in AFL football on a scale that could influence game results, let alone determine the premiers.

 

[Bollox]

i don't see how ice or ecstacy or speed or marijuana or any of these recreational drugs are performance enhancing. i agree with oak - i think you, bushy, are substituting your own words amongst the facts that have come out in the last few days.

to answer your other question, if a player was to return a positive test for steriods or something truly performance enhancing on grand final day, then yes, i think the result should be quashed and either replay without that player or award to the opposition.

The problem is that u cant have a list of banned substances then suddenly start to split hairs over them if someone gets caught.

This is why all sports introduced their own drugs policies...its up to the players to KNOW what isnt tolerated and if they break it they are gone....IFFF you break the rules are they supposed to get sympathy or a penalty ?

Warne was caught with a diuretic...was it masking roids ?...was it his mums fat pill ? .....WHY isnt important...if its on the list u should be gone coz u know better....you're paid handsomely to know better...you've been forced to go to training seminars to know better....and u certainly look at the labels of absolutely everything u ingest...coz its your career at stake and u are an athlete playing at the highest level.

Ignorance is not a defence.

 

[BushDemon]

For Oak and DiscoDuck.

Not trying to be a smartar*se, but I'm just throwing up a hypothetical question.

I agree that by having a couple of cones on matchday would hardly be performance enhancing.......having said that remember "The Club" hehehe. What I am trying to say is that in light of Woosha's "July" comments, not knowing what sort of "Drug" problem he knew of or was informed of, we have the right to speculate.

Like I said before, his revelation was huge. It opens the door for people to ask and be given a straight answer.

The Ben Cousins case may very well be the catalyst that will force the AFL to make it's drug policy the best in professional sport.
Bushy.

 

[Lidge]

If you wanna make stuff up - do it about your own club.

Our coaching department were on acid and 75% of our players are stoners.

That explains our crap 2006.

 

[Peacock]

I doubt players are even tested after the grand final. If they were the AFL would do everything in their power to just make the positive test "disappear".

Ice and cocaine are both performance enhancing.

Sydney won the 2006 Grand Final.

 

[roy47]

Would it be outside the realms of possibility that some players were using some sort of performance enhancing drug up to and including the Grand Final?


I know what you are saying Bushy

but i doubt Cousins had a little line of speed before the game, even though he looked fired up when he had a go at McVeigh before the opening bounce.

Surely he wouldnt risk having the cup taken off them

 

[MickZu]

WC enhanced on their 2005 performance and won!
Fair and square

Although their 2005' PL final was umpire enhanced.

 

[BushDemon]

Ok, to be thinking out loud again........

I don't want to give away what I do for a living but lets just say I have come into contact with drug effected and drug dependant persons on a daily basis and have for the last 16 years.

Drug addicts, generally do not care about anyone else but themselves. What would be stopping a player taking whatever is his drug of choice and then play a game? Absolutely Nothing!

Club loyalty, family loyalty, partners loyalty.....they all go out the window with bloody drugs. If a player wanted to take drugs on Grand Final day he would, make no mistake. That is the insidious nature of drugs...the people taking them become so bloody selfish that nothing else matters to them.

Am I being too dramatic? No..........The drug problem and its consequences in AFL are just starting to emerge.
Bushy.

 

[Ripper]

Drug addicts, generally do not care about anyone else but themselves. What would be stopping a player taking whatever is his drug of choice and then play a game? Absolutely Nothing!

Club loyalty, family loyalty, partners loyalty.....they all go out the window with bloody drugs. If a player wanted to take drugs on Grand Final day he would, make no mistake. That is the insidious nature of drugs...the people taking them become so bloody selfish that nothing else matters to them.

Not just Drug addicts. You can add anyone with an addiction , Alcoholic , Gamblers, etc.

They are all usually very convincing and always incredibly cunning and sneaky.

 

[BushDemon]

Yes, very convincing indeed. Ben Cousins lied to John Worsfold.

I don't think anyone can underestimate the drug problem and to what extent addicts will go to protect themselves.

Woosha touched on "trust" last night. I actually feel a bit sorry for him, it is classic example of what I have said about addicts. They only care about themselves. Cousins put his own selfishness in front of the team and rubbed the coaches face in it.

How much longer would he have trained and played, having lied about his addiction?............I would say as long as he could have.

It brings up the question of remorse. Was he sorry he used drugs or was he sorry he got caught?
Bushy.

 

[tribey]

I think it's disgraceful that every player in the GF isn't drug tested.

It's a good point you make.

They test all medal winners at major athletics and swimming championships, why not then the 44 players from the two best teams in footy?

 

[balldman]

The only way it would help is if the players took the drugs immediatly before the game....if not it would be a hinderance.

Fact or opinion?

 

[general mac]

No, West Coast won it fair and square.

In the light of recent "facts" I don't know that you can say that anymore.

I think there is now a very very big asterix next to the 2006 West Coast premiership.

Amphetamines can be performance enhancing!

 

[Ari]

Definitely food for thought. Refreshingly interesting to see the thread is started by a weagle too.

It was a 1point win last year. If it is proven that drugs 'could' have been a helping factor....?

Food for thought.....

 

[Milkman]

Having a drug problem is hardly performance enhancing.