What's new
The Front Row Forums

Register a free account today to become a member of the world's largest Rugby League discussion forum! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Here we go.......again.

blacktip-reefy

Immortal
Messages
34,079
Players response to this question.
"Can you come to the 2nd floor & answere some questions from ASADA please?"
Player "f**k off".
End of investigation.
 

husky65

Juniors
Messages
260
The reason Cronulla are being dealt with first is because there is a whistle blower.

The problem Drago, is that like many "whistle blowers" this one has very questionable credibility - to continue to work in his chosen field he has to deliver scalps to ASADA, that means he has an ulterior motive and, without real evidence (such as positive drug tests) to support his assertions, there is no reason to take his word for anything.
 

drago brelli

Bench
Messages
3,345
Husky, when you say the whistle blower is 'questionable' do you think he lied to ASADA or gave them false information. As you probably know an athlete doesn't necessarily have to test positive anymore in order to be caught cheating. I am not saying any Cronulla player has done this but as has been said over and over Marion Jones and Lance Armstrong never tested positive. This whole thing is a hopeless mess and I feel for Cronulla supporters. It is very frustrating for them.
 

husky65

Juniors
Messages
260
Husky, when you say the whistle blower is 'questionable' do you think he lied to ASADA or gave them false information. As you probably know an athlete doesn't necessarily have to test positive anymore in order to be caught cheating. I am not saying any Cronulla player has done this but as has been said over and over Marion Jones and Lance Armstrong never tested positive. This whole thing is a hopeless mess and I feel for Cronulla supporters. It is very frustrating for them.

Under ASADA rules they may not need proof to convict, but their decisions have to be able to stand up under an appeal in a real court.

Elkin has no reason to tell ASADA anything but what they want to hear, if they don't like what he tells them his career is over - as such anything he alleges has to be backed by evidence, otherwise anyone can allege anything and ruin entire careers to save their own.

Do I believe he has lied? I don't know, but I do know that ASADA has given him every reason to lie.

If you know a cop ask him how much trust they put in unsupported evidence provided by someone who is trying to trade that evidence for a reduced sentence. (hint, it is somewhere south of SFA).
 

Feej

First Grade
Messages
7,524
NRL considers nightmare scenario
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/nrl-considers-nightmare-scenario-20130318-2gbbm.html

Roy Masters
Published: March 18, 2013 - 11:56PM

A defaulted grand final and an internal draft to reinforce the ranks of any club stripped of players because of doping sanctions are among the contingency plans the NRL has drawn up in response to the drugs scandal.

NRL chief executive David Smith confirmed to the Herald he had been working with his administration to prepare responses in the event a team is banned on the eve of this year's grand final because of doping violations.

Smith met the chief executive of the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority, Aurora Andruska, for four hours on Friday, and consulted Australian Crime Commission chief John Lawler by phone on Monday.

"We have done a number of contingency plans in the background in terms of the information in front of us," Smith said. "We've got any potential scenario covered.

"I don't know enough of the [doping] details to know whether we will get to a historic forfeit of a grand final. But we would have to look at it if a number of players were banned for taking performance-enhancing drugs." NRL rules allow a player charged by ASADA with a doping infraction to continue playing until his case is heard. However, should the player subsequently be banned for two years by the NRL doping tribunal, the premiership points his team earned while he was playing would be stripped.

Should the timing of the ASADA investigation process and the convening of the NRL doping panel cascade into grand final week, one team could be forced to forfeit all premiership points and lose its place in the decider, leaving the other team without an opponent.

It is more likely the NRL will move quickly against any team with a significant number of players suspected of doping, banning them from playing for points in the same way Melbourne Storm were punished in 2010 for salary cap breaches.

The administration would be willing to take the heat of the furore from fans, aware of the greater damage and international embarrassment of a team stepping on to the dais on grand final day to accept the premiership trophy without having played a match.

However, ASADA's interviews with players and the agency's recommendations on sanctions will need to be well advanced for the NRL to gain sufficient information to disqualify a team within, say, the next two months.

Smith said the NRL was better placed than the AFL to deal with the immediate disqualification of a large number of players who accept shorter bans of six months.

The NRL does not have a draft, while the AFL does have a strictly regulated internal and external system. "We do have the advantage of not having a draft," Smith said. "We have thought of a number of situations."

Asked if other NRL clubs would be required to supply a certain number of players each, in the same way the incipient Super League in the mid 1990s allocated talent to start-up teams, Smith said: "We would all band together. In the background, the clubs have all been fantastic. They have demonstrated they are a real band of brothers."

Should any of the sanctions the NRL Doping Panel impose against a club or a player be considered too lenient, the World Anti-Doping Agency and the International Rugby League Board can appeal.

For this reason, calls for amnesties and a deferral of all sanctions until the end of the season are likely to fall on deaf ears at NRL headquarters and ASADA.

Smith also rejected any possibility of the AFL receiving preferential treatment by ASADA.

"This is a bloody serious issue," he said. "It is all about integrity, and you can't have a flaw in the integrity. WADA would overturn any decision which advantaged one code over another."

Andruska gave the same answer to the Herald on Friday when asked whether the AFL had been given a rails run on the drugs crisis.

"Absolutely not," she said. "Whatever I do, I have the scrutiny of WADA. We put ourselves up as a world leader in the fight against drugs in sport. How would we look if WADA overturned our sanctions?

"It would be the worst thing for our international reputation. I have a document given to the AFL and the NRL. It is the same document."
 

carcharias

Immortal
Messages
43,120
OLYMPIAN Damian Keogh has been nominated to replace Damian Irvine as chairman of the embattled Cronulla Sharks.
The former Sydney Kings basketball star heads an impressive group of nine prominent businessmen who are standing for election at the Sharks AGM in three weeks.
Keogh is chief executive of the advertising, media and marketing firm Val Morgan.
He is a shire local and a lifelong Cronulla supporter.
After retiring from basketball, Keogh took on a prominent marketing role for the Sydney Olympic organising committee.
He is widely regarded as an astute business executive with contacts at the top end of town.
Keogh represented Australia on more than 200 occasions, including at the Los Angeles, Seoul and Barcelona Olympics.
Irvine stood down from the position last week following the furore over his revelations that players had been injected with horse and greyhound drugs.


He may still stand for a position on the board against the new ticket.
The businessmen have the backing of the powerful Sharks junior league who are well represented by the highly regarded De La Salle chairman Darren McConnell, who is also the managing director of a recruitment company. John Dunphy, the boss and owner of Shimano, is also on the ticket.
It also boasts Dino Mezzatesta (general manager Accor Asia Pacific), Paul O'Neile (CEO Boost TEL), Paul McCarthy (executive director Blue Ocean Equities), Kevin Dwyer (principal Warren McKeon Dickson Lawyers), Andrew Boldeman (CEO Group Life TAL) and well known local businessman Craig Airey. The group has the backing of former chairman Peter Gow.
The board hopefuls also fully support suspended coach Shane Flanagan and will investigate the re-appointment of four of the football club staff that were recently sacked.
Flanagan will today meet club officials and could be involved with the Sharks' build-up to their next match against the Warriors.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...-cronulla-sharks/story-e6frexnr-1226600172710
 

DJShaksta

First Grade
Messages
7,226
@patmolihan: @NRL boss Dave Smith on the drugs saga, how it's affecting @Cronulla_Sharks Todd Carney's new deal & Benji Marshall @7NewsSydney at 6pm

Anyone catch it?
 

Craigshark

First Grade
Messages
6,880
Carney said he was close to signing until all this happened.. Said he and everyone wants Flanagan back in charge ASAP.. Was nothing new..
 

Latest posts

Top