IS this what so many in rugby league had dismissed but deep down feared?
Is this the smoking gun?
Weeks of apathy about the Australian Crime Commission's report into peptide doping was yesterday replaced with panic as it emerged Australian Sports Anti-Doping Agency officials were circling Cronulla.
Of the six NRL clubs named in the ACC report, most fingers have been pointed at the Sharks about any suspicious behaviour.
Revelations today that the club had engaged former ASADA prosecutor Richard Redman only confirmed a belief from within that it might have a problem.
Sharks captain Paul Gallen had been asked specifically on Tuesday morning if the pall of the doping scandal meant he and his teammates were now seen with suspicion - especially those such as himself, who can do "superhuman" things on the field.
"It never was before, but it might be in future, which is a shame," Gallen told Sky Sports Radio's Big Sports Breakfast. "You look at all sports - not just myself or Cronulla - if they do anything good, it will be seen with suspicion."
Asked if the investigations had been a distraction for his side, Gallen said: "It was a distraction when it first came out. After the first three or four days, we sat back and waited for something to happen. We haven't heard anything.
"We haven't had a meeting with ASADA, we haven't had a meeting with the NRL, we haven't heard a thing.
"The club has been working behind the scenes to get it sorted out. But as I said, we haven't heard a thing, or spoken to anybody."
Presumably, Gallen made these remarks before Redman had sat down 14 Sharks players on Tuesday and told them they should start considering an early plea or face a two-year sanction. There were further revelations last night that up to eight more players from other clubs were in similar situations.
That itself ignited fears their first match of the season against the Gold Coast Titans could be abandoned because they could not field a team - something denied by coach Shane Flanagan.
Broadcaster Fox Sports was not commenting last night, although it is understood it had not even had a discussion with the NRL about what would happen if the game did not proceed.
Betting markets, however, across the country were shutdown, but it was not because money had come pouring in as it did in 2010 when some punters jumped on the Melbourne Storm in wooden spoon betting just hours before their salary cap breaches had been revealed.
"There was so much speculation and innuendo going around about Cronulla this afternoon that we decided to suspend the betting," TAB Sportsbet's Glenn Munsie said. "We (the TAB) are just as in the dark as 99.9 per cent of the population because we have had no official statement about who is involved. It wasn't based on anything concrete. Markets are suspended all the time."
If this is the new world of rugby league, of suspicion and possible smoking guns, it might be something we have to learn to live with.
