The AFL insisted on Thursday that illicit drug use among its players was in decline despite releasing statistics that showed the number of players that tested positive to drugs last season rose.
The league revealed that some 11 players tested positive to illicit drugs in 2007 - including three players that tested positive on two occasions - meaning a total of 14 positive drug tests for the year.
This compared to just nine players that tested positive on one occasion each in 2006.
The news comes as the AFL also revealed it would continue with its controversial three strikes policy next season - whereby a player is not suspended until his third offence - while a player will now lose a strike if he has remained drug free for four years, even if he already has two strikes.
But the AFL will increase the number of tests it performs each season to 1500 and for the first time also introduce hair testing during the off-season - where drug testers can request a sample of a player's hair, which will indicate if that player has used drugs within the past three months.
However while any player that records a positive test through that new form of testing will receive the same counselling that goes to other players that record a positive drugs test - an official strike will not be recorded on that player's record.
AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou denied on Thursday that drug use amongst the players was on the rise despite the increased number of positive tests recorded last season saying that was only due to the AFL almost tripling its number of drug tests for the year from 486 to 1152.
"If you triple the sample size and the percentage (of positive drug tests) goes down then the trend (of drug use) is going down," he said.
The league said last year's figures showed just 1.2 percent of players had tested positive to illicit drugs in 2007, compared to 1.85 percent in 2006 and just over four percent when the first tests for illicit drugs were carried out in 2005.
AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson said the 2007 figures should also be seen in the context of the league's 'target testing' whereby players were tested at the times they were most likely to record positive tests - such as the day after games.
Anderson said the figures should also be put into context with the fact that in the wider community some 31 percent of people aged 18-29 - the age bracket for the majority of AFL players - had used illicit drugs in the past 12 months.
Of the 14 positive tests in 2007 - four were for marijuana while ten were for stimulants while the league also revealed that two of the three players that had twice been caught for testing positive to illicit drugs were also being treated for mental illness - believed to be depression.
Anderson said that underscored the need for the AFL to keep the results of both first and second offenders confidential - as per the advice of its drug and medical experts.
And Demetriou said it needed to be remembered that the AFL's illicit drug code was 'above and beyond' what was required by the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) - which only requires sporting bodies to test for performance-enhancing drugs.
Under