Not only does Ryan Crowley's suspension for testing positive to methadone look likely to end his AFL career, it has also likely cost the Fremantle tagger hundreds of thousands of dollars in the process.
Crowley was suspended for 12 months, backdated to the provisional ban from September 25 last year, after testing positive to a painkiller containing methadone.
He claimed to have ingested the banned substance through a painkiller he sourced from outside the club.
It makes him unavailable until week three of the finals - if Fremantle happen to be there.
Considering he would not have played at all in 2015 prior to that, it's a long shot that he would come straight into the team and with him out of contract at season's end, it's likely the 31-year-old has played the last of his 188 AFL matches with the Dockers.
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Crowley intends to continue training hard on his own until he's able to link back with the club officially from July 24.
He may be physically ready to go come preliminary final week but even he acknowledged it won't be easy to get a call up or earn another contract for 2016.
"This is obviously pretty raw. I wasn't sure what the outcome was going to be. So I've got some thinking to do. I'll just make sure I'm fit and we'll make that decision at the end of the year," Crowley said.
"I'm not actually allowed to be at the club for the next few weeks. So I'll just be doing everything I can to make sure I'm fit and ready to go when or if I ever get the opportunity.
"There's obviously a lot of water to go under the bridge before I can even think about that (being selected) but I understand that would be quite difficult.
"Going through all of this process the one thing I have learnt is how much I do love footy. It (retirement) never really came into consideration, no."
Fremantle chief executive Steve Rosich also confirmed that given Crowley has had to meet all legal costs and that his contract was largely based on match payments and performance incentives, he has missed making the majority of what he could have earned in 2015.
"Due to the anti-doping code and the AFL rules, Ryan has had to personally meet the legal costs due to this process so it has been a significant impost on Ryan," Rosich said.
"Ryan's is a contract that is based on playing football games. Therefore that has been impacted significantly due to these events. I think the specifics are probably not pertinent to talk about but the sum is significant in the circumstances."
In Crowley's absence, the Dockers have made a flying start to the 2015 season.
Despite dropping their first match of the year to Richmond in round 10, they sit two games clear atop the AFL ladder.
Crowley won the Dockers' best and fairest award in 2012 but was better known throughout his decade-long AFL career for a no-holds-barred approach to tagging the opposition's best midfielder.
AAP str/gc
