Overshadowed: Manly co-owner Phil Sidney says being named in the doping controversy has been disruptive to the club's commercial operations. Photo: Anthony Johnson
Manly have hit out at the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority after being cleared of systemic doping, claiming the ''ridiculous'' decision to name the club as part of its investigation has done untold damage to the Sea Eagles brand.
ASADA informed the NRL that, with the possible exception of Cronulla, there was no evidence to suggest any clubs acted inappropriately in relation to their supplement programs, allaying fears Manly could be stripped of their 2008 and 2011 premierships.
The investigation has shifted to 31 players of interest who may have gone outside the boundaries of their clubs. That news effectively cleared the Sea Eagles, Newcastle, Canberra, Penrith and North Queensland, who were all named in the Australian Crime Commission's report into doping and alleged links to organised crime.
Aside from Cronulla, the spotlight has shone most brightly on Manly, who employed controversial sports scientist Stephen Dank between 2006 and 2010. Fairfax Media does not suggest any wrongdoing by Dank. Manly board spokesman Phil Sidney said his club and others were named without justification.
''What disappoints me is that several clubs were named before this process started,'' Sidney said. ''We've got sponsors and fans and we've had to go into defensive mode. For the club to be named before they have any justification for doing that is quite ridiculous. If you look at ASADA's website, they state they are extremely cautious about naming players before they have evidence of this nature. Yet they seem to be quite free about naming clubs and that can be very damaging.''
Sidney, a co-owner of the club, said the timing of the press conference outlining the crackdown on drugs in sport couldn't have been any worse. ''The fact that it happened before the start of the season meant it had an impact on sponsors, ticket holders, corporate suites, everything,'' Sidney said.
''There has been some damage done and there was no need for any of that to have occurred. We conducted our own internal research but we were confident that the people we had in place had done a fantastic job. The whole structure of the club is based on deterring players from any of that sort of thing.''
Max Delmege, the majority Sea Eagles owner during Dank's tenure, said rugby league fans were the collateral damage when clubs were named. ''Supporters were coming up to me saying, 'Max, are we going to be stripped of our premiership?''' Delmege said. ''It shouldn't have happened like this. Before anybody speaks, people should have their facts.''
North Queensland chief executive Peter Jourdain refused to rule out the prospect of taking legal action. ''We had some preliminary discussions but we'll look at all of what we should look at when the investigation concludes,'' Jourdain said. Like other club bosses, he was content to have been vindicated.
''As we said all along, we were confident that we didn't have any issues as a club,'' Jourdain said. ''There were some tenuous connections to a person of interest, and we provided information that we were asked to provide.''
Canberra chief Don Furner maintained the club's brand had been trashed as a result being mentioned in the ACC report.
''The Canberra Raiders believes it has been vindicated by an announcement today that ASADA's investigation is focusing on individuals rather than clubs,'' Furner said. ''The fact that clubs were named earlier this year placed everyone in a difficult position and we remain disappointed that the Raiders brand was tarnished by the government announcements.
''We always had full confidence in our coaching staff, medical staff, strength and conditioning staff and administrative staff, both past and present.''
Penrith's executive general manager of rugby league, Phil Gould, added: ''We were confident … Panthers never had any cause for concern regarding this matter. Today's acknowledgment simply vindicates those long-held beliefs. We will continue to assist ASADA and the ARLC with their investigations if required to do so.
''We will support any individual player from Panthers, past or present, who may be called upon by ASADA as part of this proposed interview process.
''We have been told several times by ASADA officials that Panthers is a very low priority for them in this investigation.''
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