14 Cronulla players in ASADA storm accept bans

Australian media are reporting that up to 14 past and present Cronulla Sharks players will accept deals relating to the show cause notices they were issued by ASADA – and will receive a back-dated 12-month suspension.

Nathan Gardner, Wade Graham, Anthony Tupou and Sharks captain Paul Gallen have reportedly accepted the deal, as well as the likes of Jeremy Smith, Kade Snowden, North Queensland’s Matt Wright and Gold Coast’s Luke Douglas.

Gallen will now miss the Four Nations tournament at the end of this year for Australia, as will Smith for New Zealand, the Sydney Morning Herald reports – with the bans back-dated to November 2013.

Perhaps the biggest thing of note from Super League fans coming out of the story though, is that Leeds’ Paul Aiton and Catalan’s Ben Pomeroy are believed to have rejected the offer on the table.

The NRL released the following statement: “The NRL said today it was aware that all current NRL players involved in the ASADA investigation have responded to the show cause notices issued by the Authority.

“The NRL’s process will not begin until such time as we receive formal notification from ASADA based on player responses to the show cause notices.”