Geelongruckman Dawson Simpson was stopped while driving last weekend and found to havea blood alcohol content of 0.10. As a result he has lost his licence for 10months and been fined $700.

 Inaddition to these penalties, the club has determined the following course ofaction:

·        The fitting of an interlockingdevice to his car once Dawson has his licence reinstated. This involves thedriver blowing in to the device before the car can be started and again fiveminutes after starting the vehicle and at regular intervals through a longerjourney. The cost of fitting the device is $1,400 and this will be at Dawson’sexpense. The device will be fitted for a minimum of six months.

·        A sanction of $2,000

·        All Geelong Cats players willattend a drink drive course. This is normally attended by anyone who has losttheir licence for drink driving and is eight hours in duration (4 hours x 2sessions).

Geelongchief executive Brian Cook expressed his disappointment in the situation.

“Thereis no excuse for drink driving,” Cook said.

 “Weare relieved that nobody was injured by Dawson’s actions, as there is obviouspotential for serious accidents when somebody is driving while impaired.

 “Dawsonwill need to demonstrate through his actions that he learnt from this. We haveimposed additional sanctions to Dawson, and also taken steps to further educatethe entire playing group to the consequences of drink driving.

 “Wehave come to these outcomes in consultation with the player leadership groupand have advised relevant stakeholders of our position.”