CROWS coach Neil Craig empathises with theAFL Players Association, but says he won’t get involved in the boycott ofChannel Seven at Telstra Dome on Friday night.
In fact Craig will wear a heart ratemonitor throughout the game against Collingwood as a part of a pre-existingdeal with the Seven network.
Craig said he didn’t reconsider thedecision to wear the monitor following this week’s fallout over the network’sdecision to air confidential medical records.
“It’s between the Players Association andChannel Seven [not me],” Craig said.
“I have great empathy for the AFLPA. Whatyou’re talking about there is one of the big problems with the drug stuff andthat’s a breach of confidentiality.
“Once any party goes down that path, you’vegot huge problems. I have an understanding of why, but it doesn’t flow over forme.”
Craig, a former senior sports scienceexpert with the Australian cycling team, understands the importance oferadicating drugs in competition better than most.
He supports the AFL’s stance on illicitdrugs, but said continual breaches of the players’ confidentiality would resultin the demise of the three-strike policy.
“I think there’s a procedure in place,where to the best of their ability people are trying to detect people who wantto use performance enhancing or illicit drugs,“ he said.
“I commend that and am totally supportiveof that, but that whole system will break down if there is a lack of confidentiality,believe me, it will break down totally. That can’t be the case and it needs tobe tightened up, as quickly as possible.”
Craig said he didn’t agree Channel Sevenhad taken the higher moral ground on the drugs issue in airing the confidentialinformation.
“The message is not the fact that we arecatching people [using illicit drugs]. All that’s happened is people have putsome names to it and that’s poor protocol and needs to be addressed.”
Adelaide and Collingwood will be the first two teams put under themicroscope in the Channel Seven’s broadcast of Friday night football.
Both playing groups are adamant they willboycott the network until an apology is received and the court injunctionwithdrawn, but Craig said he didn’t expect it would be a distraction to theplayers.
“It’s no more distraction than MarkRicciuto retiring or James Hird retiring or Sheedy or whatever,” he said.
“The industry and the way it’s evolvedthere’s always something going on. I’d be really surprised and disappointed ifit distracted any player in the competition.”
