Australian basketball great Andrew Bogut has made a stunning claim amid the AFL’s alleged secret drug testing scandal, declaring “they should clean up their own league before they start preaching on social issues”.
Bogut took to X, formerly known as Twitter, on Wednesday ahead of Gather Round to sarcastically quip: “The @AFL will have a round lecturing the public on the effects drug use has on the community and how to cover up any potential drug tests from your employer”.
Bogut also jokingly offered up a few other round name suggestions, including “10 strikes not out round” and “Ping til your hammy goes around [sic]”.
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However, in later comments to Herald Sun, Bogut made it clear he was in no laughing mood when discussing the AFL’s drugs policy.
“The AFL continues to tell people about how they should live their lives but they should clean up their own league before they start preaching on social issues,” Bogut told the publication.
“It’s quite obvious what’s happened – the AFL knew they had a problem with guys using drugs, so let’s just have them pull out with a sore hammy and dodge the testing that way.
“Anyone with half a brain can see why they’ve done it. They’ve obviously tried to move the chess pieces around to navigate a (WADA) policy they have agreed to abide by – because the carrot is federal government funding.
“Everyone knows what goes on in Melbourne. I’ve been to numerous nightclubs where the AFL guys are drinking a bottle of water and jumping around like crazy. I’ve been offered it (drugs) by AFL players and the fact that it has been kept under wraps for so long just shows how far the AFL tentacles can reach.”
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It come after explosive comments made in federal parliament last week, in which federal MP Andrew Wilkie alleged he had a signed statement from former Melbourne doctor Zeeshan Arain claiming the AFL conducted illicit drug tests to help players avoid being detected on game days.
AFL CEO Andrew Dillon said in response at the time that the league was reviewing its illicit drugs policy while the AFL Doctors Association branded the allegations made in parliament a “distortion”.
“The suggestion that this unique privilege has been somehow manipulated is simply not true. Such comments are disappointing, and represent a distortion of a process aimed at supporting player welfare,” Gold Coast chief medical officer Barry Rigby, the president of the AFL Doctors Association, said in a statement.