MATTHEW Stokes is the biggest talking point in the AFL since Brendan Fevola’s trade to Brisbane. The Geelong goalsneak appeared in court yesterday charged with trafficking and possessing cocaine.
We caught up with Nova’s AFL guru (and Hughesy and Kate’s sports guy) Jeff Tyler (that guy ->) to see what he made of it all, including the minimum four-year ban from the AFL which Stokes could face if he is guilty of trafficking drugs.
Do you think Matthew Stokes will play at AFL level again?
JEFF: Look, I really hope he does play again. Mathew’s a talented young footballer with a great future but appears to have made an incredibly silly mistake.
How do you think Geelong and the AFL handled yesterday?
JEFF: As per usual the Geelong Football Club has handled this with pure professionalism by coming out and standing Mathew down. I believe the club will stay relatively quiet as police continue their investigations.
As for the AFL – they’re supporting Geelong with its decision to stand Mathew down indefinitely and according to Operations Manager Adrian Anderson will support the anti-doping authority (WADA) with its investigations.
Does WADA’s trafficking penalty of four years to lifetime ban seem over the top in comparison to the penalties in place for taking the drugs?
JEFF: The allegations are that Mathew acted as a delivery person by picking up and dropping off the substance at question – it doesn’t appear from current information available that he was making a profit from the alleged pick up and drop off. Taking that into consideration I believe a four-year to life ban is way too excessive.
Should he have shaved his mo before he entered court!?!
JEFF: Yes, I’m with Hughesy on this one – he does look a bit like a Columbian drug cartel boss, doesn’t he??!
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