Hawthorn and Jeff Kennett furious, but clubs back AFL

Essendon, Adelaide and Western Bulldogs chiefs backed a push by Hawthorn for club officials to be informed of a failed test after the first or second strike, in addition to the club doctor.

But 11 other clubs told the Herald Sun they supported the league's existing measures. Only St Kilda declined to weigh into the controversy that has cast a shadow over the first week of the finals.

Essendon's Ian Robson said the AFL policy should be altered to allow a club chief executive to learn of a strike at the same time as the doctor.

"We all get the notion that there are many positives that have emerged from the program being in place, but sometimes the circumstances that have triggered strikes may not be medical," the Bombers chief executive said.

"They might just be circumstantial or lifestyle-related issues that need a non-medical intervention, like changing where you live and who you live with."

A Bulldogs spokesman said the club would prefer to be informed after the second strike, and the Crows' Steven Trigg said the club chief executive should be told after just one.

Hawthorn's anger at being denied knowledge of Travis Tuck's medical condition boiled over on Wednesday, with Hawks president Jeff Kennett - a director of the national anti-depression initiative beyondblue - announcing he had written to AFL chairman Mike Fitzpatrick.

And, in a letter to club members, Kennett said the Hawks should have been told about the first and second strikes.

"The policy is wrong when it refuses to allow a club to render assistance to one of its own in a time of need," Kennett said.

"Yes, Travis has been receiving medical help by qualified professionals appointed by the AFL - without our knowledge - but a club, particularly our club, with our resources, both human and financial, can offer so much more.

"I have asked the AFL to reconsider that aspect of its illicit drugs policy. To have the AFL inform the club after a third positive test might just be too late for someone one day."

AFL chiefs responded by claiming Tuck would have been "demonstrably worse off" if he had been required to tell club officials about his health and drug-use issues.

"If a club was required to know about the policy, this (Tuck's mental health problems) would never have been detected," football operations chief Adrian Anderson said.

"The treatment that Travis Tuck has been receiving over the last year has been fundamental to him being in the position he is today. It could have easily been much worse."

The AFL Players' Association backed the league.

"The person who's known at the club throughout that period was the club doctor, a qualified physician, and that club doctor has played a very important role in the referral and the management and treatment," AFLPA chief executive Matt Finnis said.

It emerged yesterday that Tuck, 22, first tested positive to illicit drugs early last year, leading to counselling sessions that diagnosed he was suffering clinical depression.

Hawthorn club doctor Peter Baquie was made aware of the first and second strikes, but no one else at the club knew until police found Tuck unconscious in a car at Berwick last Friday night.

Hawks chief executive Stuart Fox was contacted by an AFL official on Saturday and told Tuck was on two strikes - with the overdose likely to be a third.

Fox told Kennett as he drove home from Saturday's win over Collingwood at the MCG.

"Our victory only hours before fell totally from our radar and the club's senior officers became totally absorbed in ensuring Travis' welfare was their only priority," Kennett said.

"Sadly, on Sunday night Stuart, Mark (Evans, Hawthorn's football manager) and Travis were called to a meeting of the AFL, where all were told Travis this latest incident might constitute a third strike.

"This was the first time anyone, with the exception of the club doctor, knew that Travis had tested positive for illicit drugs once, let alone twice."

Anderson confirmed Tuck was in possession of the drug GHB on Friday night, but would not disclose the substances in the first two strikes.