Melbourne’s Joel Smith has been provisionally suspended after testing positive to cocaine, and Carlton have revealed they recruited Elijah Hollands despite knowing about his drugs scandal.

Smith was caught with the illicit drug in his system through an in-competition doping test.

The test was conducted by Sport Integrity Australia (SIA) officials after the Demons’ win over Hawthorn in round 23.

The results of the test were not known until after the season had finished.

Smith faces a maximum four-year ban under the AFL’s anti-doping code.

In a statement on Thursday, the AFL confirmed Smith had been notified by SIA of an adverse analytical finding “for the presence of cocaine and its metabolite benzoylecgonine” and a potential violation of the Australian Football Anti-Doping Code.

“(Smith) was notified by Sport Integrity Australia last week in relation to the finding,” the league said in the statement.

“The AFL was made aware of the test results at the same time.