Originally Posted by
Lantern
ppps. this is slightly on a tangent, but I have a MASSIVE problem with players playing with multiple painkillers to get over otherwise impossible injuries. It's borderline unethical from a medical standpoint (this was a big debate in sports medicine, and although doctors hired by AFL clubs will tell you it's a settled issue, it's not), but from a sporting standpoint, it's UNDOUBTEDLY performance enhancing. There is a massive difference between a guy needing a mild painkiller to get over some discomfort, it's another thing altogether for Vossy to get continuous injections into a knee that he wouldn't otherwise be able to walk on to play through a Grannie, and that WILL have done serious damage and have irreversible consequences to his knee later in his life. (How many did he get at quarter time? At half-time? I think overall he had something like 26 injections that day -- the AMA had a huge problem with it and the AFL had to come out with a directive around that because it got so extreme.. didn't Lappin have a punctured lung that they didn't pick up because he was on too many painkillers to feel it?) AFL doctors have also essentially given up their rights as a health professional under the AFL directive as it has been left 'up to the player', which is nonsensical.