Peter Sterling has called for tougher penalties for rugby league players caught using cocaine and other drugs, saying the punishments were "not commensurate with the damage it does to our game".
"When they sign a contract they sign on saying we're prepared to abide by the rules of the league and they're not doing it," Sterling said on his segment for Wide World of Sports on Monday.
"If you're caught using, in possession, whatever and it's proven that you are guilty, 12 games on the sideline. That's the first thing."Second time you're caught, two years, and if it's performance-enhancing we stay with the two years.
"The damage that it does to the brand and our game has to be reflected in the penalties that we hand out and I don't think it does at the moment."
The NRL has been rocked in the past week by four cases of drug use. Roosters player Shaun Kenny-Dowall was arrested for cocaine possession at a Sydney nightclub, while New Zealand internationals Jesse Bromwich and Kevin Proctor were accused of consuming an illegal substance after last Friday's Test loss to Australia.
Cronulla Sharks chairman Damien Keogh was found to be in possession of cocaine on Friday night.
"Our game needs to make a stance here, I think we need to draw a line in the sand," Sterling said.
"I don't think that the penalties handed out are commensurate with the damage that it does to our game.
"I'm one of those zero-tolerance policy people I'm afraid because our players are so well educated, they know they can't do it," he said.
