We now have a number. Today the NRL has announced that ASADA wish to interview 31 current NRL players in relation to the use of performance enhancing drugs. The majority of those players having played for the Cronulla Sharks during the well documented time that has seen the club become central to illegal drug use investigations.
There are 10 former players that will also be interviewed, and I would suggest some of those players may play in Super League at the moment.
ASADA expects the interview process will take between 4 and 6 weeks and the NRL have said that no players will be stood down untill there is sufficient evidence that they have used performance enhancing drugs.
The other big news is that outside of the Cronullla Sharks, no other NRL club is suspected of systematic doping of players. This is great news for the game.
When you stand back and look at what we now known, what ever happened at the Cronulla Sharks is central to everything. Most of the players that we will see that will be interviewed at other clubs will be interviewed in regards to their time at the Cronulla Sharks while the club allegedly had staff injecting players with performance enhancing drugs.
The thing that does concern me are the players outside of that very wide net. The players who were not part of the alleged doping that occurred at Cronulla. Those players will be hard pressed to suggest they didn’t known what they were doing was wrong.
It is not much information, but it is good to know we are finally getting somewhere. It is also good to know that this doesn’t stretch to upwards of 100 players. With the main focus on the Cronulla Sharks, it looks like there are very few individuals outside of the Sharks club that are going to be interviewed, which means the vast majority of the competition is cleared.
Over the next two months I think we could see some players just decide to cop a suspension, especially if it is just for six months. I think we will see some players looking to not say anything to ASADA and those players will drag this right out. The NRL is ready for every scenario as we have seen recently with talk of internal drafts to flesh out clubs and such, and the Sharks may still need something like that to happen when this is all said and done. However it is good to see that the rest of the competition and the practices that happen at other clubs have been given the all clear.
Lets see what happens from here…
