Did Whitfield actually avoid a drug test? I get the argument is they conspired to avoid a drug test because they had a paranoid kid on their hands, but from what I can gather none actually eventuated?
I feel for Whitfield in this scenario, he's a young guy who made a mistake, owned up to it and reached out to the appropriate person in his club who counseled him poorly (but I imagine in a manner that is not unique to this situation, or club).
I knew him as a gentle young man, I cannot say for sure the reasons for his decline
We watched him fade before our very eyes, and years before his time
I hope fans boo the drug cheats at every game they play.
Gee I thought if you avoided a test you got the maximum penalty
I don't buy the "I took illicit drugs but was worried they might be laced with performance enhancing drugs" thingy. I realise that's the defence that the two Collingwood players used too, and nor do I really buy it in their situation. Does every player now worry that the coke they sniffed or tab they dropped might be laced with performance enhancing drugs? I suspect not (though it might be the best way to deter players from dabbling in illicit drugs).
I also wonder whether he's had an illicit drugs strike recorded against him, as Talia did when merely found in possession of drugs. Whitfield seems to have made an admission (at least according to his "story") that he took something that falls foul of the illicit drugs policy.
There seems to be a lot of parallels between Talia and Whitfield.
Whitfield took an illicit drug (allegedly).
Talia had illicit drugs in his possession which we was intending to take (allegedly).
Whitfield called the club to help him avoid detection. Dodgy.
Talia got busted by the cops. Guilty.
So Talia is an open and shut case with a simple guilty verdict.
Whitfield could be anything from nothing to performance enhancing. If it was illicit drugs, he in hindsight would have been better off going to the cops.
Quite a different penalty for both players though.
I haven't really trawled through the explicit details if there's since been an exact timeline of events, but I was (am) of the understanding he contacted his girlfriend after he'd already been in contact with the others.
Regardless of who reached out to Lambert and Allen, he's still a young kid who did something dumb and then was given bad advice by the folks he would have been told to go to for advice.
I knew him as a gentle young man, I cannot say for sure the reasons for his decline
We watched him fade before our very eyes, and years before his time
AFL charges GWS. they can't believe a sydney team didnt just roll over and accept a ban.
Good on matthews for standing up to those corupt bastards.
Kurt Tippett was a young kid at the time he was advised and he got 11 games.
How anyone can think GWS have been treated badly is beyond me. This was kept under the carpet by the AFL all year. It should have been dealt with much sooner. Allen & Lambert were representatives of the club so the club has to be punished as well. True to form they will receive a tap on the knuckles after being able to operate as normal during this Draft period.
Not brilliant news for us if this is true.
http://www.smh.com.au/afl/afl-news/g...02-gu3s0j.html
Today's a draft of your epitaph
Bookmarks