Hunt, now with Super Rugby side the Queensland Reds, is embroiled in a scandal in Queensland with players from the Gold Coast Titans, which threatens to destroy the already struggling NRL club.

After an investigation by the Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission, Hunt is alleged to have arranged for cocaine for personal use or to be given to friends and colleagues between June and December last year. This period includes his final three months with the Suns and his pre-season with the Reds.

AFL operations manager Mark Evans said on Monday the league had held several discussions with the Suns about the issue, but would not specifically say whether the AFL's integrity unit was investigating.

Asked whether the AFL had sought assurances from the Suns that no other players were involved, Evans replied: "Let me stay away from specifics, because we don't have those, but it's fair to say we will be having plenty of conversations just to make sure the Gold Coast Suns are dealing with this appropriately in their playing group and having those discussions."

He later added: "It's fair to say there are discussions between the AFL and the Gold Coast Suns and more broadly to other clubs as well who are quite interested in what is going on."

The Hunt case has sparked questions about the AFL's illicit-drugs policy. However, it did not reflect a failure of this policy, according to the AFL Players Association boss Paul Marsh. The players' union has offered support to Hunt as an "alumni" but Marsh stressed Hunt should be afforded the presumption of innocence.

"I think it is obviously sad to see a high-profile athlete of any sport finding themselves in these type of situations, so from our perspective we are saddened to see that and we offer Karmichael our support as a former alumni. Other than that there is not much we can say about it," Marsh said.

"More broadly, what does it say about the illicit drugs policy? I don't think it says anything about the illicit drugs policy. It's a medical model and from our perspective it is working effectively."

The AFL has witnessed a range of former West Coast players confronting drug problems including Ben Cousins. These examples do not suggest a failure of the policy, Marsh said, adding that the policy was not foolproof and these were "isolated incidents".

"We think we have had some success with it, but it is also not meant to identify individuals for the purpose of punishing them, it is a medical model concerned with the welfare of the player and helping them," he said.

Having come from cricket, which has a two-strikes policy as opposed to the AFL's three-strikes policy that players voluntarily agreed to sign up to, Marsh said he was comfortable with the football policy. "Whether it is three strikes or two strikes is not really the point. You have testing in place to find people and help them. It was never about finding people to sanction them," he said.

Evans said cocaine use was not just an issue in the football world. "We have relatively few details or specifics around the charges [against Hunt] and I will need to be mindful of not jumping to any conclusions or going anywhere I shouldn't with that," he said.

"What I would say is that illicit drugs are an issue for our community and if you talk to a lot of parents, you will note their concern around this particular issue. We share the same issues and so a number of years ago, when we brought in our illicit drug policy, it was really behaving and setting up a system to behave, as if we are a parent dealing with a player where you want that player to be educated and have some concern for their welfare.

"On the most part, that has gone very well for us and we continue to have those discussions with clubs and players around this and we will continue to do this in the future."