Raiders winger Earl faces drugs allegations
Date
June 14, 2013
Glenn Jackson, Adrian Proszenko, Jon Tuxworth
Canberra winger Sandor Earl is the subject of claims he used peptides to aid his recovery from shoulder problems while he was at Penrith in 2011.
Channel Nine made the allegations on Thursday night, naming Earl, who recently signed to play rugby union in France with Pau, as using peptides at a private clinic in Cabramatta without the knowledge of Penrith officials at the time.
A source close to Earl confirmed on Thursday night that, having become frustrated with the medical systems in place at Penrith, he was recommended to a specialist in musculoskeletal rehabilitation in an effort to get him back on the field.
An NRL spokesman would not be drawn on the allegations, maintaining the administration would let the ongoing investigation by ASADA run its course.
''The answer is the ASADA investigation is for ASADA, and we're not going to speculate on the investigation or any information contained in the investigation,'' the spokesman said. ''It's got a course to run, and that's what we'll do.''
Panthers executive general manager of rugby league Phil Gould added: ''We have absolutely no knowledge of these allegations so we can't make a comment.''
Earl is due to return to the Canberra side for Saturday's match - against Penrith - after the withdrawal due to injury of winger Edrick Lee.
Before the allegations were aired, Earl spoke to Fairfax Media about his recall, saying: ''I've definitely got a point to prove. I've played them [Penrith] twice now and it's one-all, I'm looking for a square-up, that's for sure and keep our record going at home. I haven't played for about three weeks and feel really fresh. I guess that [Lee's injury] is the nature of the beast, that's football. I've had my own little struggles with injury [at Penrith] and that opened the door for other guys to take their chance … It's come 360 again.''
Attempts to contact Earl after the allegations were aired were unsuccessful.
A Raiders spokesman said the club was unaware of the allegations in the report but declined to comment.
Fairfax Media reported in March that controversial sports scientist Stephen Dank had arranged a secret try-out for Earl with Essendon when he was working for the AFL club last year.
Earl admitted he knew Dank but was emphatic the sports scientist had not administered any treatment to him. ''No, no, no,'' Earl said at the time. ''I know him, but not, like, properly … he didn't have a proper role [at Penrith] like everyone else.''
