Three strikes policy fails human being

It doesn’t take that mythical being, the rocket surgeon, to figure out that there are some problems with the AFL’s three-strikes drug policy in the wake of the Travis Tuck suspension.

 

The most alarming issue, at a club headed by the Chairman of the Beyond Blue initiative, is that Tuck did not feel sufficiently comfortable to discuss his depression with his coaches.

 

There’s no question that AFL is a brutal industry. In the last week alone, a senior coach was summarily dismissed and North Melbourne began delisting players. Whatever we might think about these events, or the awful commoditisation of human beings during trade week, it’s hard to see how these things can be less brutal to individuals within the wider context of the modern game.

 

For a fringe player, such as Tuck, it’s not hard to imagine the football club being a pretty lonely place. For any semi-established player not getting a regular senior game for that matter, the club must seem like a daunting and coldly-clinical place.

 

As fans, we often castigate players and coldly dismiss their efforts. On electronic boards, the fates of players are discussed as if they are pieces of furniture — and AussieRulesBlog is not without blame either.

 

It’s well past time everyone in the AFL industry remembered that we are dealing with human beings, not automatons. And Jeff Kennett, you should hang your head in shame that your club didn’t have the processes in place to identify Tuck’s depression before it got him to this point.