Dna Testing

The Age

Wednesday June 22, 2005

By KAREN LYON and STATHI PAXINOS

While some AFL clubs are keen to explore the controversial practice of genetic testing on their players, the rest of the football world yesterday gave the idea the big thumbs down

AFL coaches have raised strong concerns over the introduction of genetic testing as a recruiting tool, saying there is no guarantee science will prove any more effective than the methods of testing now used for new talent.

Ethical challenges as well as scientific questions were raised yesterday, as coaches grappled with the idea of testing potential recruits for their genetic make-up.

The Age has revealed several clubs, including Port Adelaide and Essendon, have considered DNA testing young recruits for certain attributes including height, strength, speed and stamina.

But, coaches said physical aspects were only part of the puzzle and adding DNA tests would not provide an insight into a future player's character or mental strengths.

Melbourne coach Neale Daniher said he had his doubts but also believed clubs would embrace the concept in the future. "The great thing about our game is it's still based on attitude, motivation, personality, profiles. We spend as much time on trying to get the right character leadership attributes you need at your club, and DNA is probably not going to tell us that," Daniher said.

He said clubs searching for that extra 1 or 2 per cent would probably embrace the testing. "We would. Of course you would. It's just the one-percenters, the two-percenters that all AFL clubs will look at. The challenge is not what the clubs are doing, the challenge is what science is doing, and how far behind are the regulators."

Because the AFL has had no inquiries from its 16 clubs regarding introduction of the testing it is yet to develop a policy, but the players' association is urging such testing be banned, citing privacy laws.

Daniher said the AFL would need to catch up with science soon.

"The challenge is not necessarily for coaching, it's always with the regulators, who are in our sport, the AFL or whatever, and science will march on," he said.

"The challenge is always with the regulators who are chasing their tails, so it will be DNA today and in six months' time it will be something else, and that's the difficulty for the regulators."

Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse raised the ethical question of what would happen to the results and where the introduction of genetic testing would take the game.

"Where does it end up? What happens to it? Are we opening up Pandora's box in regards to a person's background or future? They have to be things we have to be very mindful of," Malthouse said in Sydney yesterday.

Western Bulldogs coach Rodney Eade said he was "wary" of the prospect of DNA testing recruits and suggested it could lead to football clubs searching out athletes rather than footballers.

From a player's point of view, Essendon spearhead Matthew Lloyd was another to question whether testing was necessary, saying clubs already had a chance to look over players.

"I don't think it'll help too much. You see them. You watch them at their draft camp. Apart from the first 20 it's a bit of a lottery after that and you just hope you pick the right one," he said.

Several companies have pushed the idea of testing, recently suggesting the test can be provided for about $750 a test. But, other scientists and doctors say the procedure is only in its infancy and cannot reveal enough about a young player's physical make-up to provide any real insight.

"We are a long, long way away from being able to tell people's potential," said Peter Brukner, an associate professor of sports medicine at Melbourne University. "It is not going to tell you whether these kids at the AFL draft camp are going to be great footballers or not. It might tell you whether one might have better endurance and one might have better power, but they have other tests to tell you that - the beep test will tell you that."

National Rugby League club Manly started DNA testing last year. Steve Dank, a sports scientist with the club, said Manly began the process to improve training programs for players based on what their genetic make-up showed were their strengths and weakness.

He said while the goal was to eventually use the tests to customise programs for players, or groups of players, the tests had allowed the club to group players into general genetic profiles and modify programs accordingly.

He said a player who had a gene that indicated he would have a "very strong cardio respiratory response to exercise" would mean he would get a better performance result by doing more endurance work while teammates could get better results from more power-orientated drills.

He said he readily accepted that the tests were a "fishing expedition" and that people still did not know enough about the area of science to fully utilise the result, but he said the club had seen encouraging results. He said he would not use the tests to determine recruiting policies until more research had been done.

"We wanted to acquire the . . . sporting genetic profile, in other words, those genes that are most applicable to sporting performance, and by giving us this profile we could have a look at the physiological range that the athletes were most adaptable to," Dank said.

"Some players can run 100 kilometres a week and it didn't seem to improve their fitness much at all and then there are other athletes who did very little during the week and yet on game day would find themselves as fit and performing as well as any one else on the field. I wasn't too sure why and then the last couple of years the light bulb struck a little bit that maybe the reason was that most of this was genetically orientated . . . (where) you only improve your fitness or aspects of your physiology so much."

IT'S ALL IN THE GENES

HOW DNA TESTING MIGHT WORK

A sample of skin cells is scraped from the player's inner cheek. From the resulting DNA test, clubs can form a picture about that player's (or potential recruit's) likely height, strength, speed and stamina - and areas where he has more potential for improvement in training.

. . . AND WHAT THEY SAID ABOUT IT YESTERDAY

"Where does it end up? What happens to it? Are we opening up Pandora's box in regards to a person's background or future? They have to be things we have to be very mindful of."

-- Mick Malthouse, Collingwood coach

"The great thing about our game is it's still based on attitude, motivation, personality, profiles. We spend as much time on trying to get the right character leadership attributes you need . . . and DNA is probably not going to tell us that." -

-- Neale Daniher, Melbourne coach

"My personal view is that football should be very concerned. At the end of the day, the clubs could not compel anyone to do the test - and there are ethics involved here, too."

-- Brendon Gale, AFL Players Association president

"We are a long, long way away from being able to tell people's potential. (DNA testing) is not going to tell you whether these kids at the AFL draft camp are going to be great footballers or not."

-- Dr Peter Brukner, sports medicine expert