View from the couch: NRL finals week three (part I)

You may have thought the 2013 season was winding down or wrapping up, but there are still a host of sports journalists who need to write something. So we’ve seen a number of speculative articles during the week.

Cronulla Sharks being shifted to Central Queensland was the first load of burley to be thrown into the water.

News Limited claimed the NRL had held talks about forcing the Sharks to move if they were hit with a significant penalty ensuing from the ASADA investigation and were unable to pay it.

This story was quickly refuted and shot down by anyone and everyone involved, from Sharks CEO Steven Noyce, to NRL boss Dave Smith, who, after being reminded who the Cronulla Sharks were, took to his newly created Twitter account to say:

“I can’t be clearer: we have no plans to move Cronulla. Will only address ASADA outcomes based on facts and we’ll continue to help the club”.

Although his comments don’t really tell us anything. He says they have no plans to move Cronulla, but he’s not making any plans until the ASADA outcomes are known.

So, really, when ASADA hand down their findings, moving Cronulla may well become a plan.

Cronulla read that tweet and were filled with dread – the last time the NRL tried to ‘help’ they gave them Bruno Cullen as stand-in CEO, who later threw the club under the bus by airing their dirty laundry on the ABC’s 7:30.

Then came the even murkier revelations about the Roosters and drug test results showing higher-than-normal levels of human growth hormone (HGH) being found on the phone of some notorious organised crime figure.

It’s difficult to see through the smoke on this one to make out any fire, as there doesn’t seem to be a lot of substance.

But it certainly has a whiff to it and has a similar ring to some of the other drug stories; it involves a person or group introduced to the club by one of the players, not employed or officially contracted by the club, operating not entirely with the knowledge of the club.

Then when their questionable activities became apparent, they were quickly cut off from contact with the players.

There don’t appear to be any specific allegations of drug taking with this story, but there are enough unanswered questions to leave room for suspicion:

– Why was the company conducting HGH testing without the knowledge of the club, and why were they sacked?

– Westing for HGH doesn’t seem to me to grounds for sacking, unless the testing was being coupled with administering HGH to see how long it took to leave the system.

– Why/how did the results find themselves onto the phone of this crime figure?

– Why were there elevated levels of HGH shown in the tests at all? The argument put forward by the Roosters that the players with elevated levels were mostly of Polynesian extraction, which isn’t unusual, sounds a bit too much like Shane Warne’s “My Mum gave me the pills” excuse.

– Then there is an extra link between Roosters coach Trent Robinson and his brother Dean Robinson, who was employed by Essendon as a trainer and also has been linked with Stephen Dank – whose name really has a stench attached to it.

Not enough information to make any concrete allegations, but it’s all a bit suspicious and hardly the preparation the Roosters wanted leading up to a big match.

Finally there was the airing of the Sandor Earl interview on Thursday’s Footy Show, which was conducted by serial doofus Karl Stefanovic attempting a serious face.

Earl came clean – which is the first time he’s been that in a while – about his double shoulder reconstruction rehabilitation while he was with Penrith, which led him to Stephen Dank, who – surprise, surprise – wasn’t employed by the club in any capacity.

Those hoping Earl would name names and dump on other players or clubs would have been disappointed, as Earl didn’t dob in anyone other than Stephen Dank, at whose feet he laid all the blame.

Dank issued his now usual response, and is suing Earl.

Follow Julian on Twitter @Armchair_Guru