Lyon,however,said it was not the responsibility of the AFL and clubs to shoulder the full burden of player welfare.
“With my parenting,I’m not looking for any organisation to take care of my kids,” he said.
TheHerald Sun reported on Wednesday that Balic’s case was referenced in a statement made by former Melbourne doctor Zeeshan Arain which was handed to Sport Integrity Australia by federal MP Andrew Wilkie last month,and that Arain had been interviewed by SIA investigators.
It was reported that Arain said in his statement:“Often,list management is used to solve a lot of problems.
“It gets to the point where they[AFL clubs] are like:‘Well,if we can’t help this player,we will move them on.’
“And the problem is that the player doesn’t cease to exist,to be a person,once they are not in your club. The duty of care still goes on. Take Harley Balic,for example. A few years after Harley Balic left the Melbourne Football Club,he was dead related to drug use.”
At the time of Balic’s death,police said they would prepare a report for the coroner.His death was not treated as suspicious.
Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir said he sympathised with Balic’s family.
“I can only imagine what they’re going through. I sympathise with Harley’s dad,” he said.
Balic’s father,Eddie,told theHerald Sun on Wednesday:“I believe that the AFL has a duty of care to formally intervene early into young vulnerable players who have been identified as having substance abuse issues.
“I also feel that had better support been put in place early for my son,it may have prevented this tragic outcome.
“The huge disappointment is that the AFL knew a lot and as a family we weren’t told. We may have saved him earlier. To this day,it disappoints me that no one from senior management of the AFL has ever made contact with me over the terrible loss of my son.”
This masthead has contacted the Balic family for comment.
Arain,Sport Integrity Australia and the Demons declined to comment on Wednesday. The AFL and Dockers have also been contacted for comment.
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Sport Integrity Australia announced in Marchthat it would investigate allegations around illicit drug tests in the AFL,following accusations made in parliament by Andrew Wilkie.
Wilkie claimed in the House of Representatives that club doctors were conducting tests in the week leading up to a match on players who had previously failed a drug test for banned substances,to avoid running foul of anti-doping rules and risking long bans from the sport.
He said others had alleged that players who had failed these tests were then rested,“ostensibly on account of injury”.
Dr Arain has since told this mastheadhe did not intend to blow up the AFL’s illicit drugs policy or the use of “off the books” tests to protect players from testing positive to performance-enhancing drugs on match day.
“I wasn’t attacking the illicit drugs policy,” Arain said. “I wanted to expose cultural problems,not off-the-books testing.
“My comments about the testing were just factual. I wasn’t revealing a scandal. The illicit drugs policy is probably one of the better things the AFL does. If this becomes a strict name and shame policy and I have contributed to that,I will feel really remorseful for the players.”
Balic was drafted at pick 38 in the 2015 AFL national draft. He also played in Peel Thunder’s 2016 premiership team. He spoke openly about his battles with mental issues such as anxiety during his career.
A talented junior basketballer,Balic began his football career with Mordialloc Braeside in Melbourne’s south-east before becoming an All-Australian at under-18 level,having played for Vic Metro.