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Former Sharks player and New Zealand skipper Richie Barnett says Cronulla captain Paul Gallen is “tainted” and should be struck from rugby league’s record books.
And Barnett has slammed his former NRL club over their 2011 supplement regime, saying it “goes to show you how desperate the club were to achieve success”.
NSW skipper Gallen has been banned from this year’s Dally M Awards and been told he’s ineligible to win the Brad Fittler Medal after being one of the present and past Cronulla players to accept a backdated one-year suspension from ASADA.
But Barnett – who played at Cronulla from 1994-97 – demanded league powerbrokers go further.
“Paul Gallen must now go down in history as a drugs cheat,” Barnett wrote in the New Zealand Herald on Friday.
“Gallen’s name has no place in the record books and it would be a lack of leadership if the NRL allowed this to happen.
“I thought he epitomised what league was about; players who achieve success through hard work … now he’s tainted.
“The NRL need to take a hardline approach on the issue and send out the right message.”
Barnett was also furious with his former club.
“I used to play for the Sharks and it’s a club that will always hold a special place in my heart, but this whole sorry episode shows how broken and disjointed they have been and the lack of leadership,” he said.
“They clearly looked at ways they could try to bring success and improve their profile – and thereby bring in more sponsorship dollars – and were prepared to go down this road.
“It doesn’t make sense but, at the time, they must have thought the risk was worth it.”
Barnett also feared the supplement saga would tarnish players who succeeded through hard work in the future.
“I also feel for players who improve because, as a result of the actions of a few, people will now question how they did that,” he said.
Barnett added that ASADA’s backdated ban “sends the message to young players now that (doping) risks are worth taking”.
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