Collingwood ahead Jack Ginnivan has returned to the AFL membership to attempt to earn the belief of his teammates who say they will not disgrace him for a medication ban.
Ginnivan has been suspended for 2 AFL premiership video games after being filmed in a resort bathroom cubicle with a bootleg drug.
“I’m pretty sorry and remorseful for the actions that I did and I’m ready to get to work today and earn the trust back of the group,” Ginnivan advised reporters as he returned to Collingwood’s Olympic Park headquarters on Monday.
Ginnivan has additionally been hit with a strike underneath the AFL’s illicit medicine coverage and given a suspended $5000 high-quality.
New Magpies captain Darcy Moore stated the membership was upset with Ginnivan however would help the 20-year-old goalsneak.
“He’s a really bubbly, really popular teammate, he is someone who really lights up the locker room,” Moore advised reporters.
“So we really want to see that and we just want to look after his wellbeing.
“This is clearly an error and a mistake that he is made and we’re not fascinated by shaming him going ahead.
“We want to support him and make sure he feels empowered to get back into his training … I’m sure he’s going to learn from this.
“We’re human beings and folks make errors of judgement and that is one thing that Jack has finished on this occasion.”
Footage of Ginnivan with the illicit drug, reportedly ketamine, was taken at a Torquay hotel on a players’ day off during Collingwood’s pre-season training camp in January and the video was offered to media outlets.
Under the AFL’s illicit drugs policy, a player will receive a $5000 fine for a first strike before they’re named publicly.
A second strike results in a four-match ban and a third strike a 12-match suspension.
Moore said the policy was complicated when a first strike such as Ginnivan’s was made public.
“It (the coverage) clearly performs an necessary position in minimising hurt across the league, by way of flagging gamers who’re liable to making errors round drug use,” Moore stated.
“It gives invaluable unidentified knowledge across the prevalence of drug use to the league and to the medical specialists in an effort to preserve tabs on how massive of a problem that is.
“The challenging part of it is when things become public because around a welfare and a harm minimisation model, not everything is going to be public and when it does it can create a little bit of grey area.
” … You could be loopy to assume there isn’t any gamers across the league who use medicine now and again, it actually exists.
“In terms of how widespread it is, I’m really not in a position to say considering I don’t have all the data.”
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
