BREAKING NEWS ON ANDREW JOHNS.
Ninemsn.com.au
Rugby league legend Andrew Johns says he took drugs throughout his stellar playing career in a desperate attempt to escape the pressures associated with being one of the game's greatest ever players.
In an intense interview on The Footy Show, Johns revealed that he played the biggest games in his career with the thought of taking drugs racing through his mind and how he would play Russian roulette with drug testers.
His drug use came to light after he was arrested in London on Sunday afternoon with an ecstasy tablet in his pocket, spending six hours in a jail cell in an episode Johns described as the scariest of his life
Johns, who retired in April this year after suffering the second serious neck injury of his career in a training mishap, stood by his initial claim that the pill was put in his pocket by a complete stranger as he left The Church nightclub in London.
But Johns said he knew what the drug was as he had used it many times before, including throughout a brilliant playing career that had many labelling him the best to ever pull on a boot.
"Probably ten years I've taken it on and off," Johns said in an interview with his former NSW coach Phil Gould.
"Generally during the off season but there's times when during the season I've run the gauntlet and played Russian roulette and taken it.
"I wouldn't say I was in drug dependency, I'd do it occasionally .. it was more in the off season when I'd do it.
"I was about 19, 20, 21 when I first taken it (sic).
"To be honest I used it to escape all the pressure and stuff.
"It's not all black and white, there's other areas too, there's medical reasons that contribute to my reckless behaviour but I don't want to make excuses."
Ninemsn.com.au
Rugby league legend Andrew Johns says he took drugs throughout his stellar playing career in a desperate attempt to escape the pressures associated with being one of the game's greatest ever players.
In an intense interview on The Footy Show, Johns revealed that he played the biggest games in his career with the thought of taking drugs racing through his mind and how he would play Russian roulette with drug testers.
His drug use came to light after he was arrested in London on Sunday afternoon with an ecstasy tablet in his pocket, spending six hours in a jail cell in an episode Johns described as the scariest of his life
Johns, who retired in April this year after suffering the second serious neck injury of his career in a training mishap, stood by his initial claim that the pill was put in his pocket by a complete stranger as he left The Church nightclub in London.
But Johns said he knew what the drug was as he had used it many times before, including throughout a brilliant playing career that had many labelling him the best to ever pull on a boot.
"Probably ten years I've taken it on and off," Johns said in an interview with his former NSW coach Phil Gould.
"Generally during the off season but there's times when during the season I've run the gauntlet and played Russian roulette and taken it.
"I wouldn't say I was in drug dependency, I'd do it occasionally .. it was more in the off season when I'd do it.
"I was about 19, 20, 21 when I first taken it (sic).
"To be honest I used it to escape all the pressure and stuff.
"It's not all black and white, there's other areas too, there's medical reasons that contribute to my reckless behaviour but I don't want to make excuses."
Are they going to strip all the titles from him that he has got over the years. Why not they do it to other codes of sport should the thick necks be except. I know I will be shot down in flames for my comments but if the shoe was on the other foot and someone in our sport used drugs and they won against you would you want them stripped of the title? 
