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As usual, it’s all happening in the game that keeps on giving, so let’s talk ASADA, Cronulla and the NRL premiership battle that took a twist on the weekend with Manly and South Sydney both losing and the Sydney Roosters recording a very impressive win.
Everyone’s got an opinion on the ASADA investigation, but if you want to be as well informed as possible you should watch the full interview conducted by the ABC’s Gerard Whateley with ASADA boss Ben McDevitt.
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It’s available – all 37 minutes of it – on the Offsiders television program’s website and it answers a lot of questions people are asking in the wake of the 12-month suspensions, back-dated to November, 2013, handed down to Cronulla players for their use of performance-enhancing drugs.
If you’re baying for Sharks blood, you may not like some of the answers, but they provide a feasible explanation of where ASADA was coming from in all of this and the difficulties the organisation faced.
It is well worth getting an explanation from the man who runs the place.
Asked if the Cronulla players should be regarded as drug cheats, McDevitt said it was not up to him to “name call”, adding, “What we’ve got is players who have taken performance enhancing drugs. That’s a fact.
“These players have gone onto the field of play with those substances in their systems and that has given them an unfair advantage. That’s a fact.
“Players have admitted having these substances administered to them. That’s a fact.
“Under the code each player is responsible for what enters their body. That personal responsibility is a fact.
“In relation to these particular players, their claim is that they took performance enhancing drugs unwittingly. They are saying they were doped and they were duped and on the evidence that we have gathered that also is a fact and that entitles them to a reduction in the penalty and the use of these substances normally under the code carries a two year penalty.
“It is a fact that they have a claim here to be able to reduce that penalty to a one year penalty due to having no significant fault.”
Whateley also asked the very important question “How can penalties that in practical terms amount to three matches and a couple of weeks of pre-season training be regarded as proportional?”
McDevitt said, “This is really a difficult and complex situation. We’ve got to look at the circumstances of each case in a very specific and separate way.
“What we actually have here is an investigation that has gone on for months, and months and months. It’s gone on under a very public spotlight. The fact these players have actually had the sword of possible issuance of notices against them, is actually something that can be counted lawfully under the interpretation of the code as a reason for being able to commence a backdating provision.
“What has occurred here is the players in facing a 12-month potential sanction have claimed that they should be given a backdating provision due to the fact there are issues about delays which are not attributable to the athlete. Things like ASADA and Government, Parliament was required to amend the ASADA legislation once this investigation had already started in order for ASADA to be able to conduct the sort of inquiries and interviews it actually did.
“Don’t forget this didn’t start with a positive test. There hasn’t been a single positive test in relation to these players at Cronulla, so we’ve had a lot of delays not attributable to the players involved and that entitles them under the code to seek these backdating provisions.
“While it might seem unfair to some and some would say three matches is too little of a penalty, let’s remember the sanction is a 12-month sanction that will go on the record. Yes it’s true it has been backdated, it has been backdated for logical reasons, and in terms of the advice here, let’s just have a think about this.
“I have spoken to WADA throughout this investigation in terms of when I arrived. I’ve only been here for three months. I established an early relationship with David Howman, the director general of WADA, and I’ve kept him in the loop on the progress of the investigation.
“The last time I spoke to him was yesterday, I spoke to him a couple of times the day before. He has been involved with this and has assured me that he has a level of comfort about where we have arrived here.
“In addition I’ve sought and had the views of Rich Young. Rich Young wrote the World Anti-Doping Code. I’ve spoken to him about these backdating provisions. I’ve said to him ‘do you think it is fair and reasonable when you are at a point where players have already moved from a position of saying there’s no significant fault, they’re saying they were unwittingly subject to the administration of these substances, the evidence shows in all likelihood that that was the case and significant blame actually lies elsewhere and we can come onto that later?’
“But Rich Young says, ‘I wrote the code, I wrote the provisions, these players would certainly be entitled on the basis of significant delays not due to them, to claim backdating penalties’, and that’s where we’ve arrived at.”
Asked about Stephen Dank, McDevitt said, in part: “In relation to Stephen Dank if what we have gathered in relation to Stephen Dank’s activities is tested and is proven then my view and my strong recommendation is that Stephen Dank never ever should be allowed near any sporting venue or any athlete anywhere in the world, ever.”
On the subject of Sandor Earl, McDevitt said he couldn’t discuss that at length because it was a court matter, but he did say Earl’s case and what has happened with the Cronulla players were two matters that are “absolutely fundamentally different”. Asked if Earl had been treated fairly by the process, McDevitt replied, “I believe absolutely he has been fairly treated.”
It’s a long interview, but it’s well worth watching – or you can simply read the transcript underneath the video on the Offsiders website.
As far as the football goes, well, the poor old Sharks are almost certain to finish with the wooden spoon to cap the season from hell after they lost to Canberra yesterday.
At the top end of the table, the Roosters have shaken things up with their 46-12 win over the Warriors, and are the new premiership favourites – after the only teams most people have wanted to talk about recently were the Sea Eagles and Rabbitohs.
Manly are clearly in a funk at the moment. They simply couldn’t do anything about it when Parramatta ran over them in the second half to win 22-12 on Friday. Manly can break out of it, but they’re going to have to do it soon.
If they enter the finals in that sort for form, they won’t go far.
Souths lacked intensity against North Queensland, which was very strange. The Cowboys, with Johnathan Thurston in superb form, went out there to rock and roll and gave the Rabbitohs a footballing lesson.
Passes inside, outside, back, or flat to wide men, and players running clever lines, either to the outside or coming back in, was too much for Souths to handle.
I don’t want to say it was simply an off night for the Rabbitohs, because that would be to sell the Cowboys way too short. The constant changing of angles by North Queensland players made it very difficult.
We’ll have to see how Souths respond next weekend.
The Warriors were very disappointing against the Roosters. They appear to have hit a very high wall at the worst possible time. But, at the same time, the Roosters were very good. They played to their strengths and were razor sharp.
It is no surprise we have a new premiership favourite, but at the same time the significant change to the market largely inspired by one weekend of football shows just how hard it is to try to pick the winner of this competition.
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