Manly’s time to open up

I have been waiting for someone to bring up Des. Dank's term at Manly coincided with Haslers commitment to gaining an edge through sports science, yet no one has mentioned his possible involvement or what may be going on at Canterbury now (absolutely not saying he did anything wrong but would like to understand who was in charge if something did occur). Des was known to be a fan of new scientific methods to track and advance his players, the success of which has lead to many of the practices being adopted at other clubs, and Dank was a player in this. In fact Des took sports science so seriously the Manly Board had to restrain his spending and cut $200k out of his sports science budget. If anything dodgy did happen at Manly (and as a fan i hope it didn't) then Des may need to visit the tribunal to explain his program and then the Dogs should have a look at what has been implemented since his arrival. I hope Manly are clean and I hope Des was just a bloody good coach.

In actual fact the Sharks were the first club audited on wednesday evening,the night before the day of the long knives announcement.

Manly maybe the first club to be audited but thats only becuase of des hasler and his revolutionary coaching method during his time there

anyone else heard the rumour that NRL match officials are being injected with Stevie Wonder's blood?

Not just Dank, they could go overseas and collect information from all the players from Manly now playing in the super league. That seems odd. Give the fringe players no case to answer for spilling the truth. I am no officer, but this is where i would start investigations.

Yeah it stands to reason that the clubs associated with the "face" of this issue (Dank) would be the first to be audited. There would have been public outrage if Manly weren't first on the list. But Dank is far from the only sports scientist employed by NRL clubs to try to push the boundaries to get the best out of their playing squad. It would seem odd, for instance, if Des, who prides himself at being at the forefront of cutting edge techniques, would not be doing something similar at the Dogs. Perhaps Smith is just letting some clubs sweat. My personal belief in all of this is that while many practices may be unorthodox, there is little chance of them being illegal. And if some are it would be a tiny minority who went outside of club protocol.

Prudence I would agree with size of the modern being far greater than the players from 70’s but this is about training times. Players from the 70’s trained twice a week. The most dedicated like Terry Randall did some gym work but they had jobs. Players now wake up and train. Naturally they will be bigger. But Prudence about getting paid less this is myth. Players in real terms got paid alot more than do now. My father was a bog standard marginal local first grader he SG he captained ball team in 69. He Captained the Third grade side in 70/71. Captained the reserve grade side in 73 played in Wollongong for Easts as halfback to get some “first” football in 74. He got enormous amounts of shoe money which he confessed to me later in life which he drank and punted away. All the while still “:working” for Telecom. I use the word working very loosely. 75 he got enough money in his contract for without shoe money which was paid at money usually 2 lobsters for first grade game supplied by a sponser to put a 40% deposit on a unit in Manly. He was a marginal first grader at that point with a good club. He mate went on to coach manly and Australia was getting several times this in 75. The know of 2 players that came from Wests to Manly got enough money to buy a block of land in Clareville. Please player from 70's had it good. They did not pay for meals at most restaurants , never paid for drink people really loved them. Now people pick them in bars. People say things like "you earn a fortune buy me a drink" I have heard it. People did not film them on their Iphone then send it Danny Wielder. They called them a cab sent them home.

I didn't know that Jack. Although - still - you'd be sending them first to the clubs under the greatest suspicion.

Deloittes will be visiting every club having already been to Manly, Newcastle, Cronulla and Penrith.

Seems strange for David Smith to say the doping involves more than one individual at more than one club, but he can't say exactly who... And then he orders investigations into Manly, Penrith and the Sharks... Obviously nothing is proven, but it doesn't look real good.

a few years since Dank worked for Manly, maybe he was getting too adventurous there!. The chances of all traces of what he MAY have been doing will well and truly have been disposed of by now and no one will be stupid enouh to blow the whistle, SO, from here on in, everyone (Except Manly fans) will accredit their success to drug cheating!, This is the Australian way -- The tall poppy syndrome!. On second thoughts, maybe the media will seek out someone who is prepared to sell out his former employer,,,, MONEY TALKS!.

There success from 2007-current will also cause a lot of success. The fact that so many people hate Manly certainly isn't helping the situation. I don't think Donny would let any of what is being suggested, happen. He comes across as a very honest and hard working bloke who wouldn't stand for any of this at his club. I'm actually glad that Manly are being investigated in the way they are. With the amount of money me and my family, like every fan from across all codes, you want to know that your team is clean. Nothing would be more disappointing then finding out that there are drug cheats at your club and all the success has been nothing but a lie.

They would have to get confessions out of dank if there is no details at the clubs as to which players got what.

It's understandable that Manly are the focus of the media spotlight given Dank's involvement with the club from 2006-2010. But we must also not lose sight that every club is being audited as every club uses supplements. What is in these supplements is what we are about to find out. Manly so far have been very forthcoming and certainly haven't "shut up shop". Perry immediately posted a statement on the club website yesterday afternoon announcing the clubs intentions to fully support and cooperate with any investigations. I found this article very interesting (edit: just noticed the Roar have now put this article up on the left) http://www.nrl.com/manly-say-they-have-nothing-to-hide/tabid/10874/newsid/70699/default.aspx Donny Singe oversaw the work of Dank and found nothing untoward. I guess we will find out if this is true in due course.

I've watched my footy since the 1970's. Back then players didn't earn much money, they played for pride and love of the game not money. There was no TAB and BETFAIR gambling on every game nor gambling on who would score first and all the other new methods of gambling on a game. Meanwhile since the 70's and since the advent of gambling, players have changed. It seems these days you need to be a bodybuilder to play football, long gone are the days where players of 70kg would play their hearts out. These days with the gambling incentive there and the new high turnover the NRL earns as well as other codes, is producing these dynamics GLOBALLY. Where athletes no longer compete naturally but often use performance enhancing drugs. This has undermined most sports today. i no longer watch the olympics, boxing, horse racing, soccer and soon it seems the nrl will also be off the list along with cricket and its history of match fixing. honestly people... what is more important ? to maintain the integrity of sport or to use sport so that TAB and betfair make huge profits ? because unless you remove the gambling motive games will always be fixed, sportsmen will alwys take drugs and slowly but surely sports will loose its shine and society will eventually turn their backs on it. be warned.. !! society doesnt need sports for entertainment especially if sports are being rigged weekly.

As a fellow avid Manly supporter I hope that they aren't involved. Obviously it's impossible for anyone to know what every player is doing once they leave the club after training, but you just have to hope that they are responsible enough to not use them. I just don't understand how any player thinks that they are going to get away with it. You may get away with it for a couple of years, but eventually it will come out. You should learn from the Lance Armstrong situation, all it takes is one person to mention it to a friend and going to a media organisation for your whole career to be overshadowed. You may improve your performance during your playing career, but imagine how stressful it would be living every day knowing that the next knock at the door or phone call could be the one that uncovers everything. It's just not worth it. Same with match-fixing. All it takes is one mate to open his mouth to a friend and within a couple of hours a whole heap of people know. Why do that to yourself for a couple of grand. Your going to do yourself out of a lot more money then you will make.