Casey Scorpions player Wade Lees attempts to break away from his opponent. Picture: Stuart Mlligan Source: Herald Sun
AN AFL aspirant has been banned from all sport for 18 months for importing performance-enhancing drugs.
VFL star Wade Lees yesterday said he would not abandon his AFL dream despite being slugged with the ban by AFL Victoria.
Lees, 24, read his sanction in an email at Casey Scorpions training on Wednesday night - more than two years after he bought the fat-burning product online from the US.
Australian Customs intercepted the product, which contained traces of a banned steroid, and informed the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority.
Lees was then charged with "attempted use of a prohibited substance violation" and banned by AFL Victoria after Round 7 this season.
ASADA argued for a two-year ban at the AFL Victoria tribunal and would not respond yesterday when asked if it would consider appealing for a maximum 24-month penalty.
The authority told the Herald Sun it could not comment due to possible appeals.
AFL Victoria declined to comment until "all parties have exhausted their rights to appeal".
Lees told his VFL drugs tribunal hearing he did not know the product contained banned substances.
He told the Herald Sun yesterday that ASADA had argued that ignorance was no excuse.
Lees, who nominated for last year's draft after hitting career-best form as a tagger, was left depressed and out of pocket about $13,000 in legal and therapy fees and taking days off work.
"If I ever had to cheat the game I wouldn't bother playing sport. My aspirations are to play AFL and if I was to take performance-enhancing drugs and play good football I'm more than likely to get tested, so why would you take the risk?" he told the Herald Sun yesterday.
Lees said he bought the product from overseas to save costs, with the aim to lower his skinfolds to better compete with AFL midfielders in the VFL.
He said the VFL's drug education program was sub-standard.
"If the education was up to scratch all these incidents, like mine and Travis Casserly and Matt Clark wouldn't happen," he said.
Lees is eligible to return in 2014, with the seven months he was forced to serve this year counting towards the ban. He finished seventh in Casey's best-and-fairest from just five games this year.
Casserly is currently serving a two-year ban , while ASADA this year appealed Clark's nine-month sanction, wanting it boosted to two years.
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