Collingwood defender Sam Murray is finally set to learn his AFL fate, more than a year after he failed a game-day drugs test.
The AFL has confirmed Murray, who has been serving a provisional suspension for the past 12 months, appeared before the AFL Anti-Doping Tribunal on Thursday.
The tribunal will consider the matter and hand down its decision on a yet-to-be-announced date.
Murray, who remains on the Magpies’ rookie list, tested positive to an illicit substance last August in what was his debut season.
The 21-year-old was investigated by the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority and potentially faces a four-year ban if found guilty.
AFL chief Gillon McLachlan said Murray’s provisional ban would mitigate whatever sanction he eventually received.
“He’s still on a provisional suspension now, and whatever he’s served will count toward whatever it ends up being,” McLachlan told radio station 3AW on Friday.
“That’s the potential sanction. But there’s mitigation and whatever argument they mount. It could be something less but it may be four (years).”
Details of the hearing have been kept confidential but McLachlan said Murray’s case was being heard by a former Supreme Court judge.
Collingwood duo Josh Thomas and Lachie Keeffe received two-year doping bans in 2015 after testing positive to the banned substance Clenbuterol.
Keeffe was delisted by the Magpies and picked up by GWS in 2017, while Thomas remains at Collingwood and has played 18 games this season.