Joel Smith\u2019s father is Shaun Smith, the Melbourne Demons icon who in 1995 used teammate Gary Lyon as a literal launching pad to take what is widely regarded as mark of the century.<\/p>\n
He says his first reaction to what is alleged to have happened inside the Pullman Hotel where the Swans were camped last Sunday is: \u201cAre you for real?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was my initial thought. I just think, yeah, that\u2019s 1980s stuff,\u201d he told news.com.au this week.<\/p>\n
The AFL\u2019s alleged illicit drug problem that snared his son in 2023 was never addressed, he says, despite Independent Federal MP Andrew Wilkie blowing the whistle a year later when he revealed \u201cthe game has been secretly manipulated by the AFL\u201d<\/a> and players were given secret, \u201coff-the-books tests\u201d and told to \u201cfake an injury\u201d<\/a> if they tested positive.<\/p>\n Smith says \u201cBlind Freddie could see\u201d that cocaine use is rife.<\/p>\n \u201cI never really saw drugs when I was playing. Guys were more just getting on the froths.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen Joel tested positive, the club just blamed him and went, \u2018He\u2019s gone, it\u2019s all fixed\u2019. But it clearly wasn\u2019t so that\u2019s where I get my nose out of joint.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a massive issue with drug culture in the AFL. You\u2019d be naive to think the AFL doesn\u2019t know what\u2019s going on. You\u2019ve got a lot of guys who are really cashed up. It\u2019s easy to do. You can just buy the stuff. <\/p>\n \u201cIf they\u2019re really serious about fixing the drug culture, they\u2019d drug test everyone weekly. But it boils down to money and confronting the problem. If they did that, they would very, very quickly not have a competition (because so many players would test positive).\u201d<\/p>\n Smith says he had no idea how bad it was when his son was taken with the 41st pick in the 2015 Rookie Draft, following in his footsteps. <\/p>\n He says he would have steered him in a different direction. Instead, he feels like he walked into a \u201clion\u2019s den\u201d.<\/p>\n The initial fallout for Joel was brutal. It was headline-making news for the league and left the then-29-year-old on the outside of the league during his prime years.<\/p>\n But his dad says he\u2019s never been prouder. <\/p>\n \u201cIn a weird way, I\u2019m glad it happened to Joel. He grew up overnight. They way he\u2019s handled himself, I\u2019m very, very proud of him,\u201d Smith told news.com.au.<\/p>\n \u201cHe didn\u2019t blame anyone else. He blamed himself, moved on and he\u2019s really become a better person. He\u2019s a better human and if he was still at Melbourne he\u2019d probably still be doing the drug and could be in a really bad way.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a parent, that might seem really weird but I\u2019m glad. It put a stop to something that I wasn\u2019t aware of. We think we know our kids but we\u2019re not with them 24\/7.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t stress how proud I am of the way he\u2019s gotten on with his life. He\u2019s got two kids and whether he returns to footy or not \u2014 it would be good if he could but I couldn\u2019t give a shit to be honest.\u201d<\/p>\n He finds it hard to watch senior figures within Sydney and the AFL baulk at questions about whether the Swans players should have been drug tested in the hours after police were called to East Melbourne last Monday morning.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy weren\u2019t they drug tested? If the club is serious, they\u2019d say, \u2018We\u2019re going to drug test them\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Sydney Swans chief executive Matthew Pavlich was pressed on whether the five players were tested for illicit drugs after police arrived at the Pullman in the early hours of Monday morning.<\/p>\n \u201cWere they tested for illicit drugs?,\u201d Pavlich was asked, but he did not immediately answer the question.<\/p>\n A second reporter followed up, asking Pavlich: \u201cThe second part of the question. The drug testing, did you do that on those five players?\u201d<\/p>\n Pavlich said: \u201cThat\u2019s potentially part of the police matter which we aren\u2019t going near.\u201d<\/p>\n It happened again on Monday when AFL CEO Andrew Dillon defended not testing the Swans players despite serious allegations of illicit drug use.<\/p>\n \u201cHave you or will you seek hair tests from the five players mentioned?\u201d Dillon was asked.<\/p>\n \u201cThose matters at the moment are under the police investigation, so the AFL won\u2019t be conducting any of its own inquiries,\u201d Dillon said.<\/p>\n A reporter asked whether he \u201cconcedes that there is a time factor\u201d … \u201cin that if this police investigation runs for months and the AFL isn\u2019t going to move until that wraps up, that there are actually time constraints?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, it is, but it\u2019s really important and a really serious matter and the AFL can\u2019t get in the way of the police investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n