Sharks players shown 30 pages of ASADA documents before taking deal
Date
August 27, 2014 - 10:00PM
Roy Masters
Rugby League Columnist
A compelling 30-page document, including an appendix of exhibits, was presented to past and present Cronulla players before their final admissions of the use of banned supplements.
The material, shown players by Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority lawyers, undermines the view that the evidence against NRL players was very weak and they were stampeded into accepting guilt.
Cronulla chief executive Steve Noyce confirmed this, telling the Herald that the players, who had never genuinely believed they took prohibited substances, only did so when presented with evidence last Wednesday.
The NRL believes ASADA learnt from its experience with the AFL in June when 34 Essendon players were presented with show-cause notices that did not have the depth of detail that accompanied those handed the 12 Cronulla players with the club in 2011.
Representatives of Essendon players, whom Fairfax Media exclusively reported on Friday were offered six-month suspensions by ASADA, subsequently rejected the proposed ban, partly because the anti-doping body refused to show evidence.
The possibility of a six-month sanction could not be kept on the table because a deadline passed, shortly after the issue of show-cause notices, with Essendon initiating Federal Court action against ASADA and the AFL. To keep the offer "live" would be contemptuous of the legal process.
ASADA was extremely patient with the NRL players, confronting them with the evidence and then suggesting they consult with their legal representatives, rather than issue a show-cause notice which, at first glance, could have had all the seriousness of a parking ticket.
Part of the problem in this whole wrenching drama that has linked Australia's two most popular football codes for 18 months is that ASADA's show-cause notices are merely an allegation – that is, the anti-doping body is only required to state it believes a doping violation took place.
ASADA, which gathered all the evidence independent of the NRL and mindful of the AFL experience, resolved to present show-cause notices to NRL players with documentation.
Nevertheless, legal sources insist the players would have ultimately won the case, although it would have taken another two years.
Some of the information against the players had already been gathered by an internal investigation commissioned by Cronulla's old board – the Kavanagh report – but it was privileged and ASADA sourced its own evidence.
"A pretty good collection of information" was how one official involved in the NRL case described the material given to the present and former Sharks to help them understand the nature of the evidence against them, adding: "It was not a bluff."
Rather than electronic surveillance data, most information came from third parties, including pharmacists, as well as club officials, documents and detail downloaded.
Complaints about the speed with which the players were forced to reach a decision have some justification.
With game time rapidly decreasing as the NRL competition season came to a close, ASADA and the NRL were desperate to have it resolved while the Sharks still had nearly a month of football left.
Otherwise, the drama would have migrated into 2015.
ASADA has a high regard for the NRL's integrity chief, Nick Weeks. Weeks, a 44-year-old lawyer, worked for the ARU for seven years before joining the NRL.
Raised in Wollongong and a university medallist in law, he also practised in New York.
Working longer hours than your local 7-Eleven corner store owner, Weeks has also been simultaneously assembling cases against the Broncos for alleged salary cap abuse.
He is an example of the high-calibre young executive being recruited into the NRL as it challenges the AFL for status as the No.1 football code in the country.
Former AFL chief Andrew Demetriou described the AFL-ASADA investigation into Essendon as a template that all sporting bodies would follow in the future, a claim that is now seen as absurd with Essendon's action against both bodies in the Federal Court.
By contrast, the administration of NRL boss Dave Smith and Weeks allowed ASADA to follow its process, distanced the Cronulla club from it and has been transparent.
Provisional suspensions, now being suggested where Essendon players would voluntarily stand down with their time missed counted against a future sanction, have already been applied to former NRL player Sandor Earl.
Former ARU chief John O'Neill, who has led both the ARU and Football Federation Australia, said of Weeks: "He is a person of great intellect, with a good legal mind and, importantly, he is unflappable. When it comes to the politics of sport, he has the ability to work under pressure and do the right thing."
