West Coast's internal inquiry into the AFL club's culture has uncovered 35 separate incidents of poor off-field behaviour, involving 13 players, over the last six years.
The results of the report, compiled by former WA deputy premier Hendy Cowan and KPMG executive Steve Scudamore, were released after the pair were given unfettered access to the Eagles structure, including ex-players, following a string of controversies which culminated in Ben Cousins' sacking last year.
After speaking to more than 50 parties, the report said incidents of poor behaviour included links between two players - Cousins and former teammate Michael Gardiner - and Perth underworld figures, along with assaults, drug and alcohol abuse and inappropriate language in public.
It also revealed two West Coast players behaved poorly during AFL drug testing procedures in 2007, and similar poor behaviour during an AFL "Respect and Responsibility" education session in the same year.
Chairman Mark Barnaba said it was clear the club had not done enough when signs were there that player behaviour was reaching unacceptable levels.
"We did not act quickly enough and we did not act severely enough and we let our standards slip," Barnaba said.
"There is little doubt that the actions we took in the past neither changed the prevailing culture of the club nor materially improved the off-field behaviour of some of our players..
"The responsibility for this has to be shared evenly across all areas of the club.
"We had holes in the support structures ... a culture that was materially impacted by the arrogant and risk taking behaviour of some key members of the player leadership group and a club where there was a betrayal of trust between some of the players and the administrators."
In the executive summary of the report, Cowan and Scudamore concluded that prior to November 2006, the culture of the player group was one of arrogance and risk-taking by a small number of influential players.
They said more should have been done by the club, in contact with the AFL and the AFL Players Association.
But since November 2006 - when senior officials realised they had a problem following the premiership win - a number of initiatives has been undertaken by the club, including new board members, a consultant on drug and alcohol and a discussion document on illicit drugs for the AFL.
The report recommends a possible addendum could be made to a standard AFL player contract, requiring players to adhere to core values of a club, and develop more initiatives to provide players with more exposure to the outside world.
