GUY McKenna says he was unaware of any alleged illicit drug use during his time as Gold Coast coach, revealing he was only recently made aware of one player's discontent with standards at the club.
The 46-year-old oversaw the Suns from their inception in the TAC Cup in 2009, but was sacked at the end of last season.
Prior to entering the senior coaching landscape, McKenna played alongside West Coast premiership player Chris Mainwaring, who died of a drug overdose in 2007.
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McKenna was also captain and assistant coach when Ben Cousins was at the Eagles. Cousins has endured a well-publicised battle with drug addiction which began during his playing career.
Former Eagle Daniel Kerr recently revealed he also took illicit drugs while at the club.
McKenna said he had no knowledge of any off-field concerns at the Suns – in the wake of former Sun Karmichael Hunt's allegations – and compared his experiences at the AFL expansion club to his time at the Eagles.
"I lived through all that West Coast business as well, as a player, as a teammate, as a captain and as an assistant coach and unaware with that situation," McKenna told Channel Seven on Monday night.
"So as the coach of the Gold Coast Suns if there was anything going on, I'm sure I would’ve heard of it from other people at the club but I clearly didn't."
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McKenna confirmed a senior Suns player had approached then-chief executive Travis Auld to express his dissatisfaction with certain players not upholding club standards.
The former Suns coach said he was never made aware of that player's discontent during his time at the club, but was told just over a month ago.
"That information was passed on to me post-me," McKenna said.
"I could almost say that happened in the past six weeks. I now know about that."
When asked if he was "surprised" he was not told about that player's meeting with Auld, McKenna said: "To a degree, yes.
"(With) my association with Mainwaring and how, unfortunately, he ended his life, everyone understood where I stood on that side of things.
"So whether I might've overshot the mark, the penalties and the standards around that area … because I saw how that all unfolded (but) I don't know, you'd have to ask other people that."
