Smith protects Sharks players

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HE ducked away from a press conference last week, attracting criticism for leaving Sharks star Todd Carney to front a rabid media.

Yesterday though, NRL chief executive Dave Smith protected players by fronting-up publicly to the ugly Cronulla Sharks ASADA drama.

Smith spoke to the media for nearly 25 minutes as he handed down the NRL's punishment for Cronulla's ill-fated supplement program in 2011.

And Smith's main message was crystal clear - Cronulla put the players' health and welfare at risk.

The findings are provisional but Smith made it clear he would not allow any club to flout the game's anti-doping code.

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"We will not accept practices that put our players at risk," Smith said.

"Clubs are obligated to ensure proper processes are in place to protect our players and we will hold clubs and individuals to account if there is a failure to do so.

"This is about a duty of care to our athletes. The information we uncovered raised serious questions and, following a rigorous assessment, I have formed the provisional view that the club has breached the NRL code of conduct through a serious failure to safeguard the health and welfare of its players.

"These failures have potentially put the well-being of players at risk and also exposed them to possible violations under our anti-doping code.

"The provisional findings, among other things, (show) that no adequate supervision or controls were in place at the club at the relevant time.

"And that a number of players were injected with substances the precise nature of which, to this day, remain unknown, by people without proper medical qualifications to do so.''

Sharks coach Flanagan was banned for a year but may have his suspension decreased to nine months if he completes training to ensure a ''proper awareness of his obligations as head coach.''

Smith said Flanagan "failed to ensure a safe working environment and failed to take appropriate steps when he became aware of the unsafe practices that had been adopted.

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"To the point, if the provisional findings are correct, these practices potentially put at risk the health and well-being of players.''

Former Sharks head of strength and conditioning coach Trent Elkin - now with Parramatta - has been banned from the game.

"The provisional findings include that he failed to ensure changes to the club's supplement program were approved by the club doctor,'' he said.

"That he injected players without the proper qualifications or training to do so. And that he misrepresented material facts in relation to the supplement program.

"It is therefore proposed that his registration be cancelled.''

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Sharks christmas wish for a coach

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WITH four days remaining until the entire Cronulla playing squad break for Christmas, the intensity prior to yesterday morning's field session at Shark Park was surprisingly high.

That was, until club chief executive Steve Noyce made the short walk from his office, on the eastern side of Cronulla Leagues Club, to the collection of players preparing for ball work on the adjacent playing field.

Aware of the bombshell that was about to drop, a $1m fine and head coach Shane Flanagan suspended, Noyce wanted to get to the players before the rest of the world did.

Cronulla Sharks coach Shane Flanagan leaving his home in Bangor in Southern Sydney after being stood down from the club as head coach. Picture: Hunter Tim Source: News Limited

"It was important to make sure the guys heard it from me and understood it,'' Noyce said.

"The best form of communication is from someone who is at the club and who knows the nature of what's going to happen.''

Truth be told, Noyce could've been speaking gaelic.

As far as the players were concerned, only one question required answering; "Who will coach us?''

PHIL ROTHFIELD: SHARKS WILL NEVER DIE

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Noyce did his best to alleviate the hysteria by confirming that it was "business as usual" and that the club had yet to approach any other coach.

And while it's often said that player power can dictate a coach's career in Flanagan's case, it could end up saving his, with whispers of a potential player revolt reverberating around Woolooware yesterday.

The Sharks head into next season with a host of stars off-contract and with their playing future at the club revolving around if Flanagan is backed by chairman Damian Keogh and the current Sharks board to return once any suspension is served.

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Andrew Fifita, Wade Graham, Isaac De Gois, Sosaia Feki and Johnathon Wright lead the list of 14 players off contract at the Sharks in 2014.

Fifita, one of the hottest property's on the open market, was moving towards extending his future at the club before yesterday's hammer blow.

What impact it has on the Test prop, who Flanagan offered a lifeline too in 2012, is now surely clouded.

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The scenario is of course all too familiar, with Flanagan's loyal band of players, including Beau Ryan, Todd Carney, Luke Lewis and Paul Gallen, leading the campaign for his re-instatement after being stood down by the Sharks board three days before the beginning of last season.

How successful the players are a second time round remains to be seen.

But even with the daily forecast of a tornado about to hit the club, yesterday's NRL provisional findings still came as a shock to the playing group.

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While some, including Carney and Graham, committed to scheduled hospital visits, the rest of the players were given the afternoon off training.

They will return to Remondis Stadium today with Flanagan's assistant Peter Sharp at the helm.

For how long Sharp remains in charge, is the answer every player and supporter of the embattled club wants answered.

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Worst is yet to come for Cronulla

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THE NRL has finally taken the necessary hardline approach in suspending Cronulla coach Shane Flanagan for 12 months and if the Sharkies faithful thought yesterday was rough justice, think again.

Worse days lie ahead for the Shire outfit only next time it will be ASADA, not the NRL, handing out the punishments.

They will most likely come in the form of infraction notices to Sharks players, who are still staring down the barrel of two-year bans for using banned supplements CJC-1295 and GHRP-6 for an 11-week window in 2011.

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PHIL ROTHFIELD: SHARKS WILL NEVER DIE

RICHARD HINDS: NRL FINDINGS SHAME CRAFTY AFL

SHARKS FINED, FLANAGAN STOOD DOWN

SHAPR READY TO STEP-UP FOR SHARKS

RISE AND FALL OF FLANAGAN

As much as the pro-Cronulla rhetoric whipped up over the last 10 months has claimed the ASADA investigation is little more than a political stunt and a Labor witch hunt, the facts are the facts.

Shane Flanagan, Trent Elkin and Steve Dank oversaw a program of banned peptides being introduced into the Cronulla club.

Whether they like it or not, an independent report commissioned by Cronulla's previous board found the Sharks players were subjected to a progressive regimen of injections, creams and tablets from March to the end of May.

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Both substances used have been banned under Article 2 of the WADA code since 2004, meaning the Sharks were playing dirty pool and the whole "don't ask, don't tell", "we didn't know, we were duped" defence is null and void.

Flanagan has always maintained he was completely ignorant about the supplement program, but this stance is at loggerheads with the first version of the independent report commissioned by the club.

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According to that report, Flanagan and Elkin both sat Cronulla's playing roster in 2011 down in the middle of Shark Park during the captain's run and outlined a "new, top secret" supplements program, "for the game day 17 only".

Flanagan's repeated denials differ to what Elkin has told ASADA, with the ex-Cronulla trainer understood to have detailed how the suspended Sharks coach was present in the corporate boxes at Shark Park when players were being administered with injections.

Flanagan's supporters - and he has plenty - will argue it is ridiculous the Sharks coach has been handed the same suspension as Essendon AFL club coach James Hird.

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They will reason how at Essendon, Hird oversaw a 12-month program involving thousands of progressive injections whereas at Cronulla, there were only a tick over 100 jabs in an 11-week window.

Rubbish, it doesn't matter. The rules are the rules.

At best, Shane Flanagan was completely naive and knew nothing about what Elkin and Dank were administering to the players. If this was the case, then he's guilty of being completely negligent in terms of his duty of care to the Cronulla Sharks players from 2011.

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But in the worst case scenario, where Flanagan potentially knew what was going on and turned a blind eye, he could be deemed complicit in the biggest doping scandal in rugby league history.

One of the crucial nails in Flanagan's coffin, which was specifically outlined by the NRL yesterday, was the April 6 email ex-Sharks doctor David Givney sent to the suspended coach and ex-football manager Darren Mooney sounding the alarm about Dank - who continues to deny any wrongdoing - and his regimen of supplements.

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Its date was crucial to the NRL's case against the Sharks.

In response to the email, Flanagan promised to "knock it all on the head, no injections, no anything".

But the problem was Dank was allowed to remain at the club until being dismissed on May 29 and players were subjected to another round of injections and instructed "Not to tell the Doc".

Does this sound like a football club with the duty of care of its players as a paramount objective?

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Two players, Isaac Gordon and Josh Cordoba, have since started legal action against the Cronulla Sharks.

Now that NRL CEO Dave Smith and chief operating officer Jim Doyle have finally reached a satisfactory "fork in the road" with the ASADA element of the investigation to punish Cronulla from a corporate governance perspective, all that remains to be resolved is the anti-doping authority investigation.

Smith and Doyle deserve praise for their handling of the Cronulla file, leaving scope for further hardline action by labelling yesterday's decisions "provisional".

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While some interpreted this as a soft option, it was not.

As much as the Cronulla faithful can continue to live in denial, ASADA continues to build a strong case file. Elkin was the first to go on the record, submitting to an interview.

The development prompted Cronulla players Paul Gallen, John Morris and Ben Pomeroy to front Elkin at his home on the same night they learned he was co-operating with anti-doping officials.

All parties have since attempted to water the scenario down to a convivial chat.

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Flanagan goes into hiding

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SHANE Flanagan was saying little on Tuesday.

Stunned at his one-year suspension over Cronulla's ASADA scandal, Flanagan was not accepting or returning phone calls yesterday afternoon.

Flanagan texted colleague Phil Rothfield saying: "I'm not talking to anyone as instructed.''

The Daily Telegraph did however capture these photos of Flanagan leaving his home in Bangor.

Cronulla Sharks coach Shane Flanagan leaving his home in Bangor yesterday. Picture: Tim Hunter Source: News Limited

THE MAIN MAN: WHO IS TRENT ELKIN?

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TIMELINE: HOW THE SAGA UNFOLDED

OUTED: RISE AND FALL OF FLANAGAN

Even Flanagan's great mate, Darryl Brohman, couldn't get through.

Flanagan is generally helpful and open to the media.

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He is one coach who doesn't speak in cliches and doesn't "play games'' with the press.

Flanagan has until 15 January 2014 to respond to the charges. The Sharks have indicated they will defend the allegations.

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The preliminary findings against Shane Flanagan include that he:

* Failed to ensure a safe and healthy work environment;

* Failed to properly supervise the Head of Strength and Conditioning;

* Failed to ensure the Head of Strength and Conditioning complied with his obligation to inform the Club Doctor about changes that had been made to the supplement program and to obtain his prior approval with respect to those changes;

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* Failed to take appropriate action when he became aware that unsafe practices had been employed in the administration of supplements to players;

* Failed to ensure that the Head of Strength and Conditioning complied with a protocol that had been agreed on 7 April 2011 to the effect that the prior approval of the Club Doctor be obtained with respect to any supplements that were intended to be administered to players.

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Elkin couldn't handle the heat

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BORING into the left hand side of my neck, his ferocious gaze was screaming for recognition.

So I turned to confront a face distorted with pure hatred and loathing, which belonged to Eels trainer Trent Elkin.

This showdown had been brewing all season, and now, in full view of guests and fellow media at Parramatta's end-of-season presentation in September, it was set to explode.

The Rosehill Gardens function marked the end of a difficult season for Elkin, who was cast as a key figure in establishing and overseeing the controversial supplement program at Cronulla two years earlier.

After learning that an independent report had found Elkin responsible for injecting Sharks players with peptides in 2011, The Daily Telegraph pursued the true extent of his previous role at Cronulla.

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We duly discovered that Elkin not only welcomed Stephen Dank, the sports scientist responsible for devising the program, into the club, but also had at least one injection to verify whether the proposed supplements altered his standard blood readings.

It would also emerge that Elkin was the first significant witness to speak to ASADA, visiting their head office in Canberra just days after the investigation as announced at the infamous Australian Crime Commission press conference on 7 February.

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This particular development made his former Sharks club mates extremely agitated, prompting a house call from senior trio Paul Gallen, John Morris and Ben Pomeroy at the end of February.

A week later Cronulla dismissed four staff and suspended head coach Shane Flanagan over management failures from the 2011 program. But the man most intimate with its detail and execution was beyond reach because he'd moved to Parramatta the previous November, and the Eels had vowed to stand by him.

They even went to the extent of having two security guards shadow him when the fired-up Sharks visited Pirtek Stadium in April.

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With an obligation to impart the truth and facts material to the biggest sports story of 2013, we reported each of these major developments in the face of denials, and intimidation.

Then, on the edge of the red carpet at Parramatta's most prestigious event of 2013, came the threats.

After locking eyes with Elkin, I bluntly welcomed him over for a chat.

Having already told our female photographer to "get f*&^ed" upon arrival a few minutes earlier, he was in the mood to oblige.

Out of respect for a private exchange - albeit one witnessed by dozens of people - I won't detail the precise conversation.

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Suffice to say I challenged him to point out any specific inaccuracies with our coverage, which he failed to do.

And suffice to say it ended with a threat as we parted ways.

It was all delivered with the conviction of a man completely assured of his own innocence, which must have made yesterday morning's phone call from NRL Integrity boss Jim Doyle an interesting one.

Doyle rang to personally inform Elkin that his NRL registration had been cancelled with immediate effect, thanks to the preliminary findings of the NRL's independent investigation.

Trainer, Trent Elkin keeps time during a Parramatta Eels secret training camp at Kiama. pic mark evans Source: News Limited

The eight provisional findings against Elkin include: exposing Cronulla players to "significant potential risks of health" and possible anti-doping breaches, personally injecting players without adequate qualifications, failing to obtain their fully informed consent in all circumstances and misrepresenting "material facts" about the supplement program.

As a result, Elkin has been told that, unless he can successfully defend the charges, he's likely to be outed from rugby league for at least two years.

Parramatta boss Scott Seward yesterday said Elkin was "very, very disappointed" with the findings and planned to fight them.

You can bet that when he does, he'll be wearing his game face.

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ELKIN - MARCH 19

"I have never condoned the use of performance enhancing drugs and I have not ever knowingly worked with anyone who did."

DAVE SMITH YESTERDAY

It is proposed that his NRL registration be cancelled. If that is the final decision, he will of course be at liberty to apply for registration at some time in the future but it is fair to observe that it is unlikely that any such application would receive favourable consideration if it is brought at any time within the next two years.

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THE EELS YESTERDAY

"At this stage the findings are provisional and Elkin has been given until 15 January, 2014 to respond. The club's primary focus is the welfare of Trent and his family during this difficult time."

WHAT ELKIN IS ACCUSED OF:

The preliminary NRL findings against Trent Elkin include that he:

* Exposed players to significant potential risks to health;

* Exposed players to possible breaches of the NRL anti-doping rules;

* Allowed persons without the necessary qualifications and training to administer supplements by injection;

* Personally injected players without adequate qualifications and training to do so;

* Failed to obtain the fully informed consent of players to the administration of particular supplements;

* Failed to comply with his obligation to inform the Club Doctor about changes that had been made to the supplement program and to obtain his prior approval with respect to those changes;

* Misrepresented material facts to players in relation to the supplement program;

* Failed to comply with a protocol that had been agreed on 7 April 2011 to the effect that the prior approval of the Club Doctor be obtained with respect to any supplements that were intended to be administered to players.

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The method behind Boof's genius

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A POST-DAY tongue lashing and pre-day joke spotlighted the two sides of Darren Lehmann's coaching mantra that steered Australia to Ashes glory.

Australia's 3-0 Ashes victory has drawn focus on Lehmann's new-world, old-world coaching methods which made him instantly successful in the Indian Premier League, at first class level and now at national level.

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Lehmann has become renowned as the man who puts a smile on his players' faces and his style was seen as a direct contrast to England coach Andy Flower who has the bearing of a military major.

But soon after Australia's Ashes win Lehmann also spoke of the need to play the enforcer such as after the fourth day when he felt Australia's bowlers had drifted from their precise game plan as fatigue and impatience took their toll.

"I am relaxed outwardly but if you had been in some team debriefs lately you would probably think the other way," Lehmann said.

"We are brutally honest. The blokes got a bit of a lashing last night with the way we bowled but they keep learning."

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Lehmann then spoke of how he occasionally uses a joke of the day to lighten the mood.

"I do it because they are funny and I like to see the sweat on the players or coaches faces because it is quite nerve-wracking for them (when they tell it). They worry players won't laugh. We had the worst joke today in my time from our phsyio so he won't be doing it again. You need some fun. The game is about enjoyment.

"No-one enjoys telling the joke because they are always nervous."

As a coach Lehmann is an unusual blend of the past and present. He loves a dressing room beer but lives in a world where scientists tell him its going out of fashion.

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He uses some sport science but is not a slave to it and no amount of data will convince him a fit player should be rested from a Test match or that beers should be banned from the rooms.

He was never big on the gymnasium as a player but knows that is the second home of modern players and the game plans he sanctions are shamelessly hard-edged and aggressive.

Winning the Ashes justifies the huge gamble Cricket Australia took install Lehmann in place of Mickey Arthur just before the recent Ashes tour.

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"I had a vision where I wanted to take us as a cricket team. We came up with some players and plans that will work for a long period of time. The atmosphere and belief of getting the guys to play a good attacking brank of cricket was essential," Lehmann said.

"We bowled really well in England. England did not make over 400 in the last eight Test matches. We just didn't bat well in England. We have batted better here. It was very emotional for a lot of players today. To see a few tears in their eyes was great.

"We have played some good cricket but they have had their chances as well. In England we lost those key moments. Here we won them.''

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