Poker machines are at the heart of the state's gambling problem.

BEN Cousins' manager has welcomed the AFL's assertion that players who test positive for drugs on game day could cost their team premiership points and said his client will do whatever it takes to return to football next year.

WEST Coast midfielder Adam Selwood has put his club on notice by demanding that he be released from his new contract and traded to a club of his choice if the Eagles are punished again by the AFL for bringing the game into disrepute.

BEN Cousins believes he's fit enough to play again, but says his highly publicised drug addiction could stop him returning to the game that made him a star.

IF YOU want to know why Russell Crowe's most heroic role is as a crusader against sport's insidious addiction to poker machines you don't need to enter one of those depressing, soulless dives where bright lights, gold trimmings and cheap drinks camouflage the operators' - often our beloved football clubs'..read more