DRUGS to enhance performance are not a problem in the AFL, according to the head of the competition's players union, who supported its testing regime.

AFLPA chief Brendon Gale said he was satisfied with testing and said the nature of the code did not lend itself to performance-enhancing drugs.

"I am (satisfied) for a number of reasons," Gale told SEN yesterday. "One, the regime they have in place is very strong. Two, the game doesn't lend itself (to drug use). It's not that sort of ballistic, start-stop type of game that you just take a drug and get an immediate effect.

"I don't think we can be too vigilant, but I actually don't think the competencies or capabilities that the game requires (lends) itself to performance-enhancing drugs."

However, Gale did warn that players could be tempted by banned substances in the future.

"It's naive to think these sorts of things won't become more attractive … as the commercial stakes of the game increase."

He is confident, though, that the current testing regime will catch players who abuse drugs.

Gale played for Richmond when his teammate Justin Charles was suspended for taking boldenone, a banned steroid. Gale said the club was "gobsmacked" when Charles, the only player to be suspended for taking a banned substance, was suspended for 16 weeks in 1997.

Gale backed Jason Akermanis, who suggested in a recent newspaper column that an AFL player had taken performance-enhancing drugs — but said the method in which he raised his concerns was disappointing.