A flawed process from the very start - The Daily Telegraph

ASADA has turned its investigation from NRL clubs to players, with 31 individuals to be issued notices.

ASADA want to question NRL players as part of its investigation into the use of illegal supplements in sport.

NRL boss Dave Smith (right) with ARLC chairman John Grant announcing today that ASADA will interview 31 current NRL players. Picture: Mark Evans Source: The Daily Telegraph

ANOTHER day, another press conference, another reason for every rugby league player, coach, official and fan to feel their game has been unfairly and unnecessarily belted around the head.

Some detail finally came floating down to League Land yesterday concerning the investigation into peptide use with the anti-doping authority wanting to interview 31 current players and at least 10 former players over the next four to six weeks.

It was hardly breaking news, and it's much less than the 150 players ASADA boss Aurora Andruska mindlessly suggested at the start of all this.

Of greater significance was the revelation from league bosses Dave Smith and John Grant that alleged systematic use has only allegedly occurred at Cronulla, meaning players or groups of players have acted independently at other clubs.

In other words, the other five clubs named in the Australian Crime Commission report - Manly, Canberra, Penrith, Newcastle and North Queensland - have been dragged through the mud for no good reason.

Their coaching staffs, their officials, and most of their players with the possible exception of some rogue elements are all in the clear.

Presumably, an apology to these people will be coming some time soon ...

No matter what they end up finding in all of this, no matter who the scalps are, it will never justify the way this continues to play out with mind-numbing incompetence.

With all due respect to ARL Commission chairman John Grant, his remarks yesterday that the game applauds the ASADA process and that there has been a "presumption of innocence until proven otherwise" are laughable. Presumption of innocence?

From the moment Sports Minister Kate Lundy and Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare held their hysterical press conference on February 7, every player in the NRL and the AFL has been dipped in excrement and now eagerly wait for it to be washed off.

Grant might consider asking some players how they feel about this.

Like the leading player, from none of the club's mentioned, who this column spoke to recently about how much he fields questions about the drugs topic each time he drops his children off at school.

ACC chief executive John Lawler this week partly explained the reason for going public on February 7 was because he feared "someone could have died".

If that's so, if the consequences of these so-called peptides, which are under the greyest of areas of the WADA code, are so dire, why not pick up the phone and tell whoever is using them that they are at grave risk?

Instead, the ACC with the powers of a royal commission thought the best way was to hold a televised press conference.

Yesterday's front page of The Daily Telegraph carried a story about calls from more politicians to haul players and coaches before a senate inquiry.

In the wash-up to all this, maybe they should call a senate inquiry into the way government departments have handled this from day one.