MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - MAY 30: Dustin Fletcher of the Bombers is chaired off the ground in his 400th game during the round nine AFL match between the Richmond Tigers and the Essendon Bombers at Melbourne Cricket Ground on May 30, 2015 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

Former Australian track and field athlete Dave Culbert believes Dustin Fletcher should not be recognised as a 400 game player.

Culbert, now a prominent sports media broadcaster, said on SEN radio on Wednesday morning, that by definition, due to the nature of the ban, the games played by Fletcher and the other banned players in 2015 should not be counted on record.

“When you look at the finding there’s a two-year period of ineligibility. They served an interim suspension when they took themselves out of training, but the suspension backdates to March 2015,” Culbert said on SEN radio.

“Therefore all of the games that the players played in the 2015 season, they’re ineligible.

“By definition the games that they’ve played don’t count, so Dustin Fletcher isn’t a 400 game player.

“Those games have to be removed from their record and therefore Dustin Fletcher doesn’t get to 400 games.

“This isn’t an easy thing to say, it’s not a nice thing to say, you don’t say it with any joy, but these are the facts of what happens when players breach anti-doping rules.”

Fletcher retired at season's end on exactly 400 games and he is one of only four men in the history of the VFL/AFL competition to reach the milestone, along with Michael Tuck, Kevin Bartlett and Brent Harvey.

173 COMMENTS

  1. who decides what goes into the drink bottles that every player use’s on and off the field , and wouldnt the “Team/ club appointed professional Doctor be responsible for what the players are given ?” Has any one ever seen a player ask the water boy “hey whats in this bottle ?” it’s called TRUST in your club . no more box’s of drink in the rooms after a game

  2. All players regardless of the time spent in a club TRUST implicitly the team doctors , medical team , nutritionists , dietitians and over all management and probably along with their parents sign waivers to do what ever they are told believing that it is ALL LEGAL

  3. If you use this argument, then for every game a banned player played in last year, the club should be fined for playing an ineligible player. The points then appointed to the other team (if Essendon won the game). This then changes the ladder for 2015 and therefore all finals games. The backdating is a joke as the players took the field and have not and were not deemed ineligible.

Comments are closed.