COLLINGWOOD captain Nathan Buckley has disowned the illicit-drug-testing code he helped create, declaring AFL players would no longer trust the system after the release of medical records detailing two players' drug histories.
Buckley yesterday attacked the league for not protecting players' privacy and said it was untenable for players to submit to drug testing under the code.
Buckley served on the AFL Players Association executive when it and the AFL came up with the drugs policy in 2005, but he has since criticised leaks of positive test results to the media.
Under the policy, a player must test positive to drugs three times before his club is notified.
Players who test positive once are known only to AFL medical staff. Club doctors are informed confidentially after a second positive result.
The latest drug leak came on Friday evening when Channel Seven aired details of player drug use at a Melbourne-based club.
Buckley also criticised the leaking of three players' names last year.
Asked on Triple M radio whether he regretted serving on the executive that helped usher in the code, Buckley said: "Not only do I have doubts, I don't think it's a tenable position for the players to be involved in an illicit drugs code any longer."
He said players would shun the code now that its confidentiality was suspect.
Channel Seven bought the medical records from a women claiming to have found them in a gutter outside an Ivanhoe rehabilitation centre. Victoria Police are continuing to investigate whether the records were stolen.
A court-imposed injunction prevents the media from publishing the names of the players involved or their club.
Buckley said: "I think that if the league and its constituents fail to uphold the confidentiality under which (the policy is) supposed to be running, well then I can't see how the players would put their hands up to be exposed to something that we don't actually have to be a part of."
But Geelong captain Tom Harley, a current member of the players' association executive, is in two minds over the drugs code.
Harley would not go as far as the Collingwood skipper in signalling its demise.
"If I put my (players' association) hat on, it is really disappointing there has been a leak," Harley said.
"Illicit drugs among footballers is obviously an issue because there are too many incidents now among footballers to ignore it.
"But we have come out with a policy that everyone voted on and was really confident with, and I think we have to stick to that.
"But if confidentiality has been breached, gee, it is a really tough one — give me a day to think about it."
Geelong chief executive Brian Cook said other club leaders also backed the policy.
