Former Brisbane Lions player Rhys Mathieson has received a three-year suspension after returning a positive test for performance-enhancing drugs.
As first reported by the Herald Sun, the 72-game former Lions midfielder tested positive for the anabolic steroid oxymetholone.
He is banned from playing football again until August 10 2027, but can begin training in June of that year.
Speaking on his podcast Rip Through It with former teammate and Brisbane player Mitch Robinson, Mathieson reveals his story.
"Before we get started, I don't want this to be a feel sorry for me or I'm a victim in this. I take full responsibility for what happened," Mathieson says.
"This is why I'd like to tell the story because some things just didn't add up, but at the same time, I fully agree with whatever we went through, but some bizarre events happened."
Since retiring from the AFL in 2023, Mathieson has gained status on social media documenting a bodybuilding journey as he piled on more than 10 kilograms.
The Queenslander most recently played competitive football in the QAFL in 2023, before being provisionally suspended because he tested positive for performance-enhancing substances within 12 months of retiring from the AFL.
The 28-year-old took the substance for non-football reasons, which was taken into account when his ban was handed down.
"When the trades didn't go through, I thought, ' Look, I am going to follow my passion, the dream is sort of over for footy now. So I'm going to follow my next passion, which was bodybuilding," Mathieson says.
"So when I stepped into that world, I had a lot of friends who were already in there and some mates who were quite big or whatever.
"I dived into a lot of gym supplements, I mean a lot – a lot of them. And some you would just buy off the shelves or whatever, and some of the boys had their own, and I was willing to, you know, put anything, sort of, in my body to transform.
"I liked the science behind transforming your body. I really have a passion for it, I like to see these guys competing.
"Once I started doing it, I fell in love with it.
"I fell in love with the timings of meals and supplements and vitamins and pre workouts and all these proteins. All this stuff that I wasn't allowed to have in AFL.
"I thought I am going to have a crazy pre-workout now and all this stuff, and I am aware it is banned.
"But at the same point, I am only getting ready for local footy. These guys (I'm playing against), you know, they drink beers before the game, they go out the night before the game.
"I am going to take whatever pre-workout. I am going to take whatever substance I want. I am going to be OK."
Mathieson acknowledged that THE photo of him in the gym was "what made it go bananas".
Mathieson most recently played for Brisbane in its 2022 preliminary final loss after debuting in 2016.
