Limping towards his 300th match, Crawford has divulged that he is using painkillers to get through games, as well as a super-strength anti-inflammatory gel that is generally prescribed for horses.

Hampered by knee tendonitis, the 1999 Brownlow medallist was a shadow of his former self against Sydney on Sunday, gathering just 10 possessions. It left him in doubt yesterday about whether he would play against St Kilda at Telstra Dome on Saturday night and lamenting the fact that the painkillers he takes orally are slowing him down.

The Rapigel product Crawford is using is described on the horsesuppliesdirect website as an analgesic muscle and joint relieving gel for horses with a "cooling effect". The description contains advice that if symptoms persist a veterinarian should be consulted. "I actually rub it around my knee," Crawford, who turns 34 in September, said yesterday. "It's just like an anti- inflammatory … the human anti-inflammatory is Voltaren, but it's just a little bit stronger so I use the Rapigel, which is quite good."

Pain relief had not been administered to him via injection, he said, "Because it's a tendon and you don't want to do that to tendons because they rupture and once they rupture, you're finished".

Crawford described the pills he took to play as "just a few smarties … It's just the placebo effect before admitting that a side-effect of the medication was that it slowed him down.

Samantha Lane