Western Bulldogs player caught out by ASADA

By Michael Gleeson

It turned out to be an expensive and embarrassing happy snap. A senior Western Bulldogs player was caught out by drug testers for not being where he told them he would be when they found pictures of him on holidays.

The senior Bulldogs player had not updated the details of his whereabouts on the phone app for ASADA drug testers during the Christmas holidays.

He was then caught out when he posted photos on his Instagram account showing himself on holidays - and not in the location he said he would be.

The club was fined $5000, half of which was suspended, for the administrative sloppiness.

It was their second fine this summer for whereabouts errors after they were fined $3000 in December for not immediately informing the AFL of a change to a player's travel plans.

The fine reveals the lengths ASADA and the AFL go in checking on players. It is unknown if it was ASADA who uncovered the discrepancy after looking through his social media accounts, or if it was an AFL integrity investigation.

“The club is disappointed to be in breach of the AFL’s policy in relation to whereabouts information, and we accept the imposed sanction," Bulldogs chief executive Ameet Bains said.

“In this instance, the player in question simply altered his original holiday plans and failed to log this information. The club will continue to educate its players on the importance of providing up-to-date information about their whereabouts during the holiday period.”

Richmond were also fined $7500 in December for failing to keep up-to-date information on player movement. That included a $5000 fine that had been suspended from a previous occasion.

Clubs must keep up to date details of where players will be at certain times each day so they are available to be drug tested.