St Kilda legend Nick Riewoldt has made the bombshell claim recreational drug use within the AFL is “out of control”, accusing players of rorting a flawed system for their own benefit.

The Saints icon, who played more than 300 games at the top level before retiring at the end of the 2017 season, is one of the most respected figures in the game and made the startling comments on radio this morning.

The topic was brought into the spotlight last week when Riewoldt’s ex-coach Grant Thomas said after he left St Kilda at the end of 2006, a former player told him drug use was “rife” at the club.

That prompted 3AW radio host Ross Stephenson to claim 16 players at a single club were avoiding drug tests by using mental health reasons as an excuse, but Collingwood president Eddie McGuire rubbished that suggestion.

Club CEOs have since come out swinging over the AFL’s illicit drugs policy and Riewoldt joined the pack today as he made jarring claims about drug use in the league, criticising the lack of consequences for players who test positive.

“It’s pretty out of control,” Riewoldt said on SEN Breakfast. “It’s out of control now because the players can (get away with it).

“The AFL, by their own admission on their own website, say what the policy is designed to do is to identify players with substance abuse issues and place support around them to protect their health and wellbeing.

“Now, the vast majority of players don’t have substance abuse issues, they’re taking the p*** because the system allows it.

“Hair testing in the off-season and during the season, that’s only to identify the numbers. There’s no recourse, there’s no ramifications, it’s a free-for-all.

“It depends what your definition of out of control is. I would say it’s out of control.”

Riewoldt denied Thomas’s suggestion drug use was “rife” at the Saints when he was in charge but he called for changes in how players are penalised should they return positive drugs tests, saying the current system is too lenient.

Designed to help players with substance abuse problems rather than name and shame them, the former St Kilda skipper said players would continue to take drugs because the ramifications aren’t strict enough.

“What I would say, if they’re serious about getting the number closer to zero, remove the safety net,” Riewoldt said.

“If players do have a legitimate substance abuse issue, then getting a suspension on their first detection is probably the least of their worries. They need to get their life together.

“The blokes that are just doing it because they can, because the system allows them to get away with it. You’re telling me if they’re getting a four-week ban for first detection, they’re going to do it? I don’t think they’re that stupid. They’re not going to do it because they’re going to get suspended and everyone’s going to know.

“Right now, the only deterrent is the Shane Mumford situation where you get caught doing it.

“If your utopia is zero, we’re a long way from zero. I think (AFL Players Association CEO Paul Marsh) said society is at about 30 per cent and I would say that would be out of control (for a footy club).”

Herald Sun reporter and SEN host Sam Edmund called Riewoldt’s comments “extraordinary” on Twitter.

The AFL has confirmed it is reviewing the illicit drugs policy, just over three years after it was changed from a three-strikes to a two-strikes policy.

Club presidents Jeff Kennett and Peter Gordon have renewed their criticism of the policy.

“As president, I am still not informed about those who have had strikes — and I find that to be totally hypocritical and self-defeating,” Hawthorn’s Kennett told the Herald Sun last week.

“If the AFL has a policy on drugs it should be enforceable and anyone who voluntarily puts their hand up to be a league player … should be prepared for the consequences.”

Gordon said clubs have no say in the policy.

“This current illicit drugs policy is a deal cut between the AFL, as the regulator of the competition, and the AFLPA, as the players’ union … and the results of it are there for everyone to see,” Gordon said.

“I have complained, both publicly and privately to the AFL commission, that it puts the clubs, as employers, in an invidious position.”

With AAP