Former West Coast
skipper Chris Judd says public perception of the Eagles' drug culture in 2006 was overblown.
Judd's comments come following former Eagle Daniel Chick's claims of rampant drug use by players during West Coast's 2006 premiership-winning season.
"There's no doubt that there was a small group of players that had some drug issues and that's been well documented, but I think the perception from the outside looking in was that there was 45 players on the list running around Perth running riot, and obviously that was not the case," Judd said.
"We wouldn't have been able to play the sort of footy that we did if that was the case.
"With Cuz (Ben Cousins) and some of the issues he faced there was certainly that perception going around, but my time at West Coast will just be remembered as a group of players that were really driven to achieves success and worked their butts off to get there."
Former Eagles
player Daniel Chick claims that there was a toxic culture of illicit drug use within the Eagles' 2006 AFL flag-winning team.
Chick told the Herald Sun that he and former teammates Daniel Kerr and Ben Cousins took massive doses of asthma drug prednisone in a pattern experts describe as bizarre and inappropriate.
The Eagles respond by saying that they were "extremely disappointed by the content, timing and publication of some unsubstantiated claims".
"The club and its medical staff are deeply offended by these allegations and will discuss internally an appropriate course of action," West Coast said in a statement.
"When the club faced some challenges with its playing group a decade ago, it took steps to address those issues.
"It voluntarily undertook its own investigation, the AFL also initiated an independent investigation (by Victorian Supreme Court Judge Bill Gillard) and neither revealed the issues and allegations raised by Daniel in this story, all of which are strongly refuted.
"The club is now recognised as a leader in the area of player welfare and integrity in the country."