Winner
Year
2024
Category
All Media: Sports Journalism
Michael Warner’s series of reports exposed rampant illicit drug use in the AFL, facilitated by a secret testing regime for more than a decade. The reports triggered a Sport Integrity Australia (SIA) investigation and the dismantling of the league’s controversial three-strikes policy.
In February, Warner reported that Melbourne star Joel Smith had been charged with cocaine trafficking, and the father of footballer Harley Balic, who died of a drug overdose in 2022, broke his silence to reveal he blamed the AFL for the tragedy.
In March, he revealed Demons doctor-turned-whistleblower Zeeshan Arain had admitted to conducting “off the books” tests – authorised by the AFL – to help players evade detection for breaches of the world anti-doping code.
Federal MP Andrew Wilkie detailed the revelations in a late-night speech in parliament, leading to the SIA calling for an “immediate overhaul” of the AFL drugs policy and a warning over criminal infiltration in Australian sport. Warner then revealed how the parents of a drug-addicted AFL player had been “blackmailed” by a crime gang.
Michael Warner is an investigative journalist with Melbourne’s Herald Sun newspaper. He won the 2021 Walkley Award for Sports Journalism, as well as the Melbourne Press Club Gold Quill. Warner was also named the 2021 Harry Gordon Australian Sports Journalist of the Year for his book The Boys’ Club.
Judges’ comments:
“Michael Warner’s “White line fever” reports have set the agenda over the past year on the issue of illicit drug use by AFL players. Transcending sport and reaching the floor of federal parliament and a Sports Integrity Australia investigation, the Herald Sun’s journalism intensified the spotlight on an AFL policy that has life and death impact.”
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