POLICE TARGET FOOTY 'RAT-PACK'

ONE of Australian football's biggest stars is being investigated by
drug squad police as part of a wide-ranging inquiry into a so-called
"rat-pack" of sport, media and entertainment cocaine users.

And he is not an Eagle.

The former star of a Melbourne-based club has maintained a high
profile in the media since his retirement from the game he played
with distinction.

Persistent rumours of his links with a drug dealer have prompted
detectives to monitor his activities in recent months.

The result, according to a well-placed source, is that the colourful
football identity has unwittingly led investigators to the dealer,
allowing them to gather evidence that will soon be used to lay charges.

It is understood police plan to recruit a third person known to the
football identity to help an undercover detective to infiltrate a
"rat-pack" of sporting and media people who use cocaine regularly.

"People in his (the football identity's) position should be careful
what they tell the hairdresser," the source said. "Hairdressers do
not tend to keep secrets under questioning."

The group reputedly buys thousands of dollars worth of the illicit
drug from a favoured dealer each week. Police did not set out to
target the members of the group but have used them to set a trap for
the "dealer to the stars", the source said.

"The coppers haven't spoken to him just yet but he is high on the
list," the source said. "It's called arrest by appointment: he will
soon be invited in to the major drug investigation unit for a cup of
tea and a teddy bear biscuit."

"He will then either be charged or will help the police with their
inquiries into the dealer. The way to put pressure on the dealer is
to put pressure on his customers and get them to lag him in. The drug
squad will get statements from the customers to nail the big guy."

The high-profile cocaine user will be faced with either giving
evidence against the dealer or risking charges himself.

The investigation uncovered the existence of the luxury "love boat"
revealed by this newspaper's Spy column last week.

The multimillion-dollar pleasure craft is used for weekend cruises on
the bay to which selected "guests" pay up to $5000 for unlimited
cocaine and sex with escorts. Current and former AFL players and
media "players" are believed to be among those who have used the boat.

The police investigation is the latest episode in a turbulent
fortnight for football following revelations about the extent of drug
abuse among AFL players, a scandal kept under wraps until this
newspaper broke the story over the past two weeks.

The uproar over the admission that Eagles star and Brownlow medallist
Ben Cousins is dangerously addicted to "ice" (crystal meth
amphetamine) has affected football followers from the cheer squad to
AFL headquarters and the Prime Minister's office.

Prime Minister John Howard said on Melbourne radio last week he
favoured "zero tolerance" towards all illicit drugs inside or outside
sport. And AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou used the AFL's season
launch on Thursday to promise support for Cousins and his family for
the player's rehabilitation.

The media frenzy over the story prompted speculation that several
other West Coast players were in a similar situation to Cousins. The
manager of one West Coast player was so concerned at rumours that he
took the unusual step of contacting the The Sunday Age to say that if
any story were published about his client without "stat decs, video
evidence and an affidavit from his mother" then he would sue for damages.

West Coast coach John Worsfold revealed yesterday that Daniel Kerr
was one of up to eight Eagles players who had admitted taking
recreational drugs.

"I would suggest that it would be half a dozen, maybe eight players,
that have admitted they have used an illicit drug -- but we are
certainly not talking about drug problems," Worsfold said yesterday.