One little pill...that's all it took.

I woke up yesterday morning to the news that Andrew "Joey" Johns had been arrested in London for being in the possession of drugs. For those unfamiliar with Andrew Johns, allow me to enlighten you a bit; he is considered by many to be the greatest Rugby League player the world has ever seen.

His achievements include two NRL Premierships in Australia, captaining New South Wales in State Of Origin and also captaining his country...in other words, he was bloody good. If you want a gauge of exactly how good, let's have a look at some stats from Newcastle, his club team. When Johns played, they were winning something in the order of 70% of their games...without him, it was under 30%; he was that good.

Sadly, earlier this year an injury forced him into premature retirement. But don't think he's a wuss that can't play with an injury; 1997 saw him play the Grand Final with a punctured lung...and it was he who threw the final pass that set up the matchwinning try in that game.

Andrew Johns about to throw a pass for his Newcastle Knights

So that's who he is, on to the events in London. He was let off with a caution after he told the police what had happened; namely that he was at a club and someone slipped the pill (later found to be ecstacy) into his pocket. He forgot all about it and so the police found it and cuffed him.

No problem right? Since he didn't take the thing he had no case...until last night.

For in an interview on 'The Footy Show' he admitted he had a drinking problem...and used drugs during his 12 year playing career.

The drinking I can understand, lots of people sturggle with that...but there isn't an excuse for the drugs (despite the fact that lots of people are addicted to that too). The NRL drug test players and Johns said he sweated many times over the results of his...and it is pure luck that none ever returned positive.

I don't know where he goes from here...he said after being chucked in jail for a night woke him up and he vowed to never touch drugs again. He also spoke how difficult it was to tell his seven year old son what had happened. The NRL has a program designed to help players with things like this so my guess is he'll use that.

I hope it works Joey, for, despite your incredible achievements on the playing field, you've just thrown away a heck of a lot of your reputation in my eyes, mate.