IT IS true that Collingwood's chief executive Gary Pert genuinely believes that illegal drugs have infiltrated football clubs to a dangerous and damaging degree - a degree that the current AFL illicit drugs policy cannot hope to adequately address.

But it is equally true that Pert, his president Eddie McGuire and Magpies coach Nathan Buckley are desperately worried about what is taking place in their own backyard. Pert has been telling friends for weeks that he is tearing his hair out with concern over the behaviour of certain players at his club.

Pert must have known when he delivered his impassioned speech at the end of last week's chief executives' meeting on the Gold Coast that he would be putting his club in the spotlight. That he was prepared to take a stand is an indication of how worried he has become about the culture at his club.

Like many club chiefs he has become increasingly frustrated at how powerless the clubs are when it comes to drug abuse. They hear the stories, they ask questions but while anonymity remains the privilege of the out-of-season drug user they cannot hope to prove their suspicions unless a player tests positive three times during the season proper or is caught in a legal sense.