AFL drug policy detail revealed: Players with serious issues to face extra step

AFL players under treatment for serious illicit drug issues will need to be passed fit to train and play by a new expert panel, under the heavily revised illicit drug code that is being finalised.

The AFL-appointed expert panel would assess the player who has been using illicit drugs and determine whether they are medically fit to play, creating a more uniform approach across the AFL and making that footballer more accountable during treatment.

It would only apply to players with significant drug use problems, who often have mental health or traumatic histories that compound their problem.

The panel would not assess those who have incurred a random positive to a hair test, according to two competition sources with knowledge of the updated policy. The panel would hold expertise in drug treatment and would not have had any prior involvement in treating the player.

The use of a panel of outside experts to determine whether a player is medically fit to play has parallels with the AFL’s recent approach to concussion, in which players such as Angus Brayshaw were forced to retire following an assessment by the league-appointed panel.

The new policy is being finalised in discussions between the AFL and the AFL Players’ Association and still has details to be worked through. It will include AFLW players, who have never been part of the drug code, for the first time in 2026.

The AFL’s illicit drug code is entirely separate from the World Anti-Doping Agency’s code for policing performance-enhancing drugs, which is followed by the AFL and all major sports in Australia, and which players can run foul of if they test positive for an illicit drug such as cocaine or methamphetamines on game days.

The decision on whether a player is allowed to play would remain confidential, as under the current policy, which has left the management of players with illicit drug positives – and whether they can train and play – entirely under the control of the club and AFL doctors.

When a player with drug issues or positive tests is sat down by the doctors and ruled unfit to play, the club typically describes them as having “personal issues” or alike that have compelled them to take a break from the game. There are, of course, other types of personal issues that can rule a player out but do not involve drug use.

The club doctors will remain the primary figure in caring for players who have positive tests, with the panel only brought in for a small group of players with significant issues impacting on their health.

A source said there would likely be scope for psychologists or psychiatrists, who have relevant expertise to be involved in handling players under the updated illicit drug code.

While the AFL will remove “strikes” for positive tests and replace urine testing with more revealing hair tests, as reported by this masthead on Tuesday, the AFL’s plan is for the new policy to make the players who take illicit drugs more accountable and subject to more rigorous standards.

The league’s view is that the expert panel makes the assessment of players with significant drug problems more formal. It arguably removes pressure from club doctors, who have closer bonds with players, although the AFL is still consulting club doctors on how their role will shift.

The AFL’s executive responsible for mental health, Dr Kate Hall, has been involved in the management of high-profile players with off-field issues and has become an influential voice in the AFL’s approach to the mental health of players and others within the game.

But Dr Hall, who treated players before joining the league, is not expected to be part of the expert panel, which will bring in experts from outside the AFL.

The AFL policy is a medical model for treating and assisting players with drug issues and has often been criticised for been insufficiently punitive, especially to players with persistent problems in using illicit drugs. But it is a voluntary code, only continued with the consent of the players and their union.

The policy came under attack in 2024 when, in response to the controversy surrounding allegations of drug use at Melbourne, federal MP Andrew Wilkie claimed that players were being withdrawn from games by club doctors following drug positive tests to avoid consequences, sometimes with faked injuries such as hamstring injuries.

The AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon’s response was that the league and the doctors could not allow players to take the field when they had drugs in their system and were not medically fit to play.

The AFLPA declined to comment except to stress that the policy was yet to be finalised. The AFL was contacted for comment.

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