Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
Carlton have confirmed ongoing discussions with the AFL after two players were hospitalised on Sunday, amid allegations of drug use.
Will Hayward, 27, and Lachie Cowan, 21, needed hospital treatment, with advanced life support paramedics called to an incident at inner-suburban South Yarra early on Sunday.
Speaking on the last day of the trade period, Blues football boss Chris Davies was asked about persistent reports that there had been drug use at a player’s house and this had led to the separate hospital visits.
“It’s an AFL discussion at the moment and we’ll leave it there,” Davies said.
“The AFL are going through a process right now and ultimately we’ll work with the AFL to get to the end of that.
“We’ve been having discussions with the AFL over the last two or three days, clearly, to make sure that we are at the bottom of that.”
Davies was then asked about the health of the two players.
“That’s the most important thing – they’re OK now, a little bit embarrassed, I guess, to put the club in this position,” Davies said.
He also confirmed another player had been present on Saturday night, “but not in the same situation.”
Carlton confirmed on Sunday afternoon that Hayward and Cowan went to hospital, in separate circumstances.
Cowan received medical treatment and underwent observation before being discharged, while Hayward admitted himself and was stitched up after suffering a minor cut to the head.
The league revised its illicit drugs policy in March this year, with chief executive Andrew Dillon declaring the agreed changes would make it “the most stringent illicit drugs policy in Australian sport”.
Independent federal MP Andrew Wilkie, who used parliamentary privilege in 2024 to allege secret testing of AFL players so they would not fail drug tests under the policy, remained skeptical after the weekend’s incidents.
“If the media reports are right, this is more evidence that the AFL haven’t yet cleaned up their act,” he said.
