I've lost no respect for him, in fact I like him more.

"I'm not here to talk about other players" I fucking love you Andrew.

What a champ. I have the utmost respect for that guy. We all make mistakes. He must have a big set of knuckers doing that for so long and being under the pressure he was. Like an extreme sport in itself. He probably got a little high off the constant fear and relief. In any case, good on him for owning it and being honest about it.

Thats what I love about the Australians sports folks they are straight up and honest when the tough questions are put to them. Andrew Johns was honest and contrite throughout this interview. Best interview I have seen. All the best to Andrew and his family. Respect to the Australian Sporting Spirit. From a Kiwi Fan.

Yet the biggest and most important question went unasked.... WAS HE A SHELVER! Lol. Still love him.

I love how he was completely honest he was the whole time. Despite the pressure he was going through during that interview, he still stayed carm and collected. (Wonder why that is.. hahahha) Anyway.. leave the guy alone.. He's a legend.

People with depression cannot be made happy by any amount of money. Everything can be perfect in your life and still be unhappy. That is the absolutely fucking frustrating thing about depression. A few beers and recreational drug on the odd occasion is like a short holiday from being depressed, feeling 'normal' almost. People don't understand it who aren't depressed, and never will unfortunately.

Young men take risks every day.When a man is young, fit and healthy, he feels bullet proof. He lives life to the absolute max . Shit !!!! I really miss those days .

He has nothing to be ashamed about!! Live your life how you want. He didn’t hurt anyone so play on.

Played 3 games for Warrington in England and he's classed as a legend that's how good he was

What an amazingly genuine and honest interview, from an incredibly talented human being, dealing with incredible pressure. Class player and a class person.

This was blown way out of proportion. Yes taking pingas is dangerous because you don't know what's in it, but it's not like it made him a better player or anything. They guy was high profile and liked to party, big deal

Gould is old school. He has no idea.

I find it hard to listen to Gus drill into Joey about how it’ll effect his son, or his family’s life ect. Like the man didn’t feel bad already and obviously know the repercussions to do with them, you got someone rubbing salt into the wound. I’m glad we’re at a better place these days in terms of approach when it comes to mental health/ drug and alcohol abuse. It’s the best persecution and expectations on a man who’s dealing with mental illness or drug and alcohol abuse that’ll tip them over the edge. Thank you Joey for acknowledging your faults, and thank you for being honest. Not one bad thing to say about him, he’s the best and he’s human!

this whole thing is fucking absurd, whys he getting grilled so hard, alot of people take drugs just to have fun and enjoy it and they put it in such a negative light as if he was in a horribly bad stage of hes life and was living a fake life the whole time. hes a great player and he liked to party hard, fuckin spot on joey, love your work.

Irony is being grilled about his drug use. As he said 'After 6-8 beers I didn't care'. That is the reason for so many mistakes in the world. But grill him on the pills....

I'd never seen this interview before today and I must confess it's changed my opinion of Andrew Johns a bit. He hasn't tried to duck the issue, he's sat there and simply answered the questions. At least that's how I see it. As far as Gus is concerned, he's been around long enough to pretty much know the answers before he'd asked the questions. I guess the average punter will never know if it was on the up and up or a kind of set up to exonerate him in the eyes of the public. Superficially though, from my point of view he seems to have been pretty honest about the whole thing.

jeez he was just having a good time,get ova it!!

Phil Gould has one of the best rugby league brains if not the best. He had to ask certain questions but he still helped andrew johns through it even if it didn't seem like it

Thank you, tw1nair for sharing this insightful video with us! A very honest and courageous performance from Andrew Johns. Andrew Johns has earnt my respect =).

Everyone makes mistakes, the only thing that changed here is that Andrew shows us he is only human. He wasn't hurting people, he was just having good times, probably just made himself relate to many more young people suffering from the pressure of being a normal person with a gift that makes his life public.

Don't forget what they did to him in order for him to play, example 3 broken ribs, pain killer injections that punctured his lung and he still played that IS pressure, see the Malcolm Reilly Interview, not an excuse but no player today would go on the field with those injuries. He was told he was needed, no argument just went out and did his job.

i have gained so much respect for this man after this interview, so brave and so honest, but he shouldn't be the next immortal

he wears his heart on his sleeve and hes a good guy , we all make mstakes and we all get through it and get past it . joey mate chin up we all support u .

I don't care about the drug use, been there, done that...what I do care about is Johns being made an Immortal ahead of Meninga. Meninga's achievements and contribution to the game put Johns in the shade, and his leadership is unquestionable. Johns was a very good-to great player, but Meninga IS an immortal, and should be the next awarded.

One of few, or any players to admit their problems. Love him for this. But with all of this he is still one of the greatest players of all time! Also a brilliant commentator.

Fair balls to him. He's putting his hands up there, and telling it how it is. Good on ya dude.

"Cheating refers to an immoral way of achieving a goal. It is generally used for the breaking of rules to gain advantage in a competitive situation." How did ecstasy help him achieve his goal? How did he gain advantage by using it?

Well done for owning it and being honest. Big lesson for ALL our players young and old

still a great player, they wernt performance enhancers.

Phil Gould casting so much shade over Johns for this as if it's something that never would even come near his life. I would be seriously surprised if he hasn't done the odd celebratory bump in his time.

Alcohol is a drug!...yet it is legal.

Who in there life has never tried drugs....can't think of anyone. I think Joey is a hero for what's he's done for sport & a legend for trying esctacy which is one of my favourite drugs.😊

Bet he went for some drinks and got on it after the interview like fuck this lol

Other effects include reduced aggression, blurred vision, increased body temperature, and dehydration.

Now i know why all them Rugby lads are always hugging each other on the field.

agreed. Taking drugs doesn't define who you are. The fact that he took drugs doesn't mean anything- australia is the largest ecstasy user per capita

Gained even more respect for him! What a king 👑❤️

Andrew mate look at all the other players out there doing the same thing millions of them but you had guts to be honest good on you mate hold your head high and good on you not giving your mates up good on you mate

Hilarious! 07:58 "...a campaigner, an advocate or the face of drug reform..." Phil Gould was taking one tablet just a little seriously.

Good in ya Phil. Give Joey a good grilling for poppin a pinger.

coked up in this interview!!! this is hilarious his face muscles and eyes have minds of their own lol

What brings us here is respect for Joey 🙏🏻

Dude, every player in the NRL is on roids during the off-season.

Tough interview! I hope Andrew did get something positive out of the humiliating experience.

Your media in Australia still slams rugby,afl or any other sports people when they trip up fp. Glad he said we all make mistakes.

Andrew still loves an Ekky

I love his honesty!!

Yeah like he's the only sports-star that's ever done that.

Nonetheless, to suggest he used it for performance-enhancing reasons is silly. For starters, he claims to have mostly used it during the off-season, on a weekend out on the town. And with the effects being so hit-and-miss I'm sure he wasn't using it on game day.

John seems high during this interview.

I wish he'd been more specific. "Recreational drugs" is very vague. There's a big difference between chronic and crystal meth. He cops to Ecstasy.... what else? If it's cocaine (Hello, Sailor) then that's a drag, but if it's 420, no biggie. Probably helped him with the banana kick.

I bet Matty Johns was shitting himself during this interview LOL .. along with many other League Players

I dont think it was that silly, what if he used it to stop the anxiety he experienced before big matches or something like that?

As I said though, there's the risk of too many negative effects to be using it for that. And the negative effects can be different every time. I used to have a few from time-to-time when I was 18/19 so I know from first hand experience how unpredictable it is. There's also the risk of not knowing what the pill is cut with. So yeah I'm pretty happy with his explanation that he used it for escapism when he was out partying.

Andrew Johns has something in common with Diego Maradona the greatest footballl player ever. I guess they would've got on great together. Also despite what Maradona has done, he is still considered as a god in Argentina. I wonder if Australians and especially fans of rugby league will still worship Andrew Johns.

Mate. Which effects would they be? The ones displayed in this video? Yes. Thank you.

I saw israel dagg and zac guildford at a 21st twanged out of their minds once hahaha

shut up phil gould, its only an ekky.

the best bit is where hes biting his bottom lip

Mate I'm here thinking about Luke lewis growing up on doonside,Luke Lewis

about 85-95 percent of people who go out to nigtclubs in the world do ectasy or sometype of drug!!!! lets face it, in this day and age its the norm!!! he is still a legend because he is normal.

Is is ok for people to do drugs, again all drugs can be taken responsibly (and most people do take them responsibly, I know tones of people who use but arn't addicted and who have good jobs and educations). Some of the best times of my life have been when im under the influence, I hope everyone has the chance to one day have those experiences too.

best thing ever

wait til gallen and Thurston retire and the hgh stories come out

Joey put on a pretty brave face and was very candid in front of Phil Gould who essentially crucified him!? Okay he's taken some ecstacy, yes that's bad but it's not bloody murder. He's come out to tell the world he's sorry and he also has depression. Let alone all the alcohol drunk by players which was barely touched on. Gould keeps hammering at Johns with "Why did you take it? Why didn't you read the warning signs? Do you realise your a bad example?" How about some more open questioning

How can people say it didn't help him? It increases your awareness and your senses. In Rugby league that helps!! Increase in confidence helps! and becoming more energetic helps!!

I don't think that people that have not experienced drugs can actually comment or understand

He might of done the wrong thing. I know I’ve done the same thing as him. But never seen someone own it like this before. You can tell he’a just telling the truth and it’s a weight lifted off his shoulders. I never had to explain to my kids about things I’ve done

despite this i have always liked andrew more than matty for some reason

So serious over 1 pinger man the 2000’s were weird

Good on him, it shouldn't be illegal anyway. The only crime here is the crime against John's, and his family being put through the media like this. He hurt no one by taking it.

ya still a legend to me johns'y

i dont get this , jus bekoz he gt chargerd with drugs .. that didnt change is gameplay? it didnt effect him , now that they found out it feels like drugs made him worse... thats shit

If his family, teammates and some club officials knew this was happening then Phil Gould would definitely have known. Seems like he is trying to distance himself from Johns.

Love you Andrew xxxxxx

If it were legalized, at least the government could then monitor the quality people are ingesting. If someone has a reason, other than "it's illegal" as to why he shouldn't take it, and others shouldn't have the right to use it, please get back to me. Education is a powerful thing, look into it.

Depression has no contentment,

I don't think who you vote for has anything to do with it, but you're right about taking ecstasy. Alcohol is the biggest problem but it's ok because it's legal!

The worst part about this is that he was photographed holding a can of Fosters. He should be ashamed of himself.

way to not illustrate any sort of points, to any sort of argument. As previously stated, education is a powerful thing.

Love Gus, went in on the 8th and it would have been hard for both.

Shouldn't have been an Immortal only for that reason. Still making the Immortal list shows how low the NRL standards are and that there are a lot of nsw people that are in powerful positions in the league and in the sports media. Thanks Joey for owning your mistakes though

Do you really think the drug testers would fry Andrew Johns and deny the game the Jordan of Rugby League

I feel sorry for him - but he had to expect this fall out now he just has to sit through it while it dies down

Legend!

This is the classic presentation of someone who has endured years of sexual abuse

all the more reason to introduce education surrounding its use, not telling people don't do it , its bad, because the fact of the matter is

You don't know much if you don't think MDMA can be performance enhancing in some way

Met him today in Warrington, England. Nicest bloke iv ever met, would never have known he was depressed... but... i can understand the pressure he would of been under, doesnt mean he should have turned to ecstasy but...

Well from just a bit of quick googling it can increase energy, increase alertness/responsiveness, lower inhibitions, lower anxiety and can also stop the effects of pain which all, you know, sound like a pretty handy advantage in any sport.

there have been substancially more fatalities due to the legal alcohol, in fact, there are no documented fatalities caused bu ecstacy alone. Once again, you are assuming it should be illegal based on what you are told.

Wow, its like talking to a brick wall.

Remember that

Gould needs to remember who the fuck he is talking to

Wait a minute the guy never asked him did you ever take any other drugs apart from Ectasy, He probably also took other drugs which enhanced his performance

This was a bit over the top, he didn’t kill anyone

Lol the immortal junkie

is it just me you cant take MDMA WITH MAOI inhibitors that are in antidepressants?

Mental health problem my ass, its an attitude problem on behalf of everyone that ever drank to get drunk but then had the gaul to look down their nose at an ecstasy user. Just cause the govournment doesnt subsidise it doesnt make it more of a social evil than the drink (that is ironically so entangled sponsorship wise with sporting in australia)