Suspensions loom for host of Cronulla stars hit by scandal
Several Cronulla players and their agents left a meeting at Sharkies Leagues Club on Tuesday night with their careers in tatters after being told that they faced the high possibility of an immediate six-month suspension.
Fairfax Media was told that the meeting was the sixth attended by the Sharks players since the dramatic media conference in Canberra a month earlier to announce the findings of an Australian Crime Commission report into doping and match fixing.
However, it was the first at which player agents had also been invited to and rumours quickly began swirling on Wednesday morning of a story that would knock Ben Barba and Sonny Bill Williams off the front and back pages of newspapers.
It is believed the players have been offered six-month bans rather than the two-year suspensions that normally apply to athletes proven to be drug cheats if they confess to taking performance-enhancing substances. No player is thought to have failed a drugs test. It's understood that if players do admit to taking a banned substance they would claim that they did so unknowingly.
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Fairfax Media has been told that Sharks players were given beta thymosin and CJC 1295 during the 2011 season. It has been suggested that the substances were not on the World Anti-Doping Agency banned list at the time.
Sharks coach Shane Flanagan and football manager Darren Mooney did not return calls. A club spokesman denied reports that the players had been interviewed by the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority on Wednesday.
Instead the players trained as normal to prepare for Sunday night's match against Gold Coast, but their futures are uncertain amid speculation that either ASADA or the club will stand them down on Friday.
A shopping centre appearance by players on Thursday night was scrapped and an announcement of a new sleeve sponsor has been delayed. The Sharks say they have already lost a deal of up to $2 million for the naming rights of their stadium after they were one of six NRL clubs named in the ACC report.
All six clubs - Cronulla, Penrith, Manly, Canberra, Newcastle and North Queensland - have links with sports scientist Stephen Dank, who is at the centre of an investigation into an AFL club, Essendon.
Dank was sacked by Essendon at the end of last season and more than 20 of the club's players have been interviewed by ASADA.
The Sharks issued a statement on Wednesday night, announcing they were working with ASADA.
''Sharks fans and all rugby league supporters can be assured the club has been very proactive in fully co-operating with ASADA and taking other measures that prioritise the integrity of our club and the welfare of our playing group,'' it said. ''While there are strict boundaries around what we can say while the ASADA investigation is ongoing, fans should be assured that as soon as there is an opportunity to provide further information we will do so.''
NRL officials said they had not been contacted by the Sharks or ASADA over the fate of any Cronulla players. There were high hopes Cronulla would break their long-running premiership drought in 2013 but the latest developments have put an unwanted pall over the club.
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