Rugby league: Drug truth and consequences for Warriors

By Peter Jessup

There is no point in dope-testing rugby league players, some maintain, because you would have to be stupid to put your body on the line in the most gladiatorial sport of all.

But it is a credit to the Auckland Warriors that in the five years since their inception there have been no steroid scandals, no pot smokers weeded out, no hotel rampages fuelled by who-knows-what "recreational" drugs.

Just to be sure, though, the club yesterday had a classroom session with the Australian Sports Drug Agency that conducts testing on behalf of the National Rugby League. The ASDA has tested more than 350 players since the end of the 1998 season, including nearly all the Warriors.

The focus was on ensuring the players know the rules and the consequences of a positive test.

Contrary to other NRL clubs, the Warriors have made it clear that any positive test for performance-enhancing drugs will result in a player's contract being torn up. A positive test for recreational drugs could result in the same action, but each case would be treated on its merits.

"We don't believe there is or ever has been a problem here and that's how we want to keep it," said CEO Trevor McKewen.

After the positive tests of 1998 - Robbie O'Davis, Adam MacDougall and Wayne Richards at Newcastle, and Rodney Howe at Melbourne - the NRL now requires clubs to appoint a drug liaison officer to handle education and to advise players regarding medicines and dietary supplements.

In the Warriors' case, that is trainer Trevor Clark, who holds a double degree in sports psychology and physiology.

Yesterday the players were told they can be asked for a urine sample any time, anywhere. The ASDA's Catherine Rule lectured them on the circumstances of last year's positive tests and outlined the consequences should any more turn up.

Among her points.-

* Six to eight cups of coffee are sufficient for a player to return a positive for caffeine.

* The new energy drinks contain as much as 250mg of caffeine, so two of those can do the same.

* Beware guarana, which contains caffeine in variable amounts.

* The meat concentrate creatine is OK.

* Cocaine and amphetamines, including Ecstasy, are considered by the NRL to be performance-enhancing since they act as a stimulant.

* Beware dietary supplements which, unlike registered medicines, contain varying amounts of active ingredients including naturally occurring steroids which will return a positive.

* A positive test in league will in future mean a ban from all sports as national governing bodies sign agreements to recognise one another's sanctions.

Rule later described the Warriors squad as "pretty clued-up" on what was and was not allowed. Most will be tested at least twice this season under the NRLs random-test policy, she said. At around $500 a test, the extent to which the league is going to stamp on the problem is obvious.

Still in the fog is policy on cannabis. The NRL pays ASDA to test for it but a positive test for it does not carry the mandatory two-year ban - rather, the league is collating statistics and anecdotal evidence to consider if it should include cannabis in its banned substance list.

Rule confirmed there were several positive tests for cannabis in 1998. The appropriate clubs were notified but the names of the players kept confidential.

"I guess the incidence is what you would expect to find in the general community," she said.

She believes the league has gone a long way to clean up the game and the two positive tests uncovered this year, one for steroids and one for Ecstasy, are a sign of the extent of the testing rather than widespread abuse.

"The testing in league is huge in comparison to other sports. What we're saying is that if you use drugs, you will be caught - no maybes."

Next season, the NRL and Olympics organisers hope to have a test for human growth hormone in place, but blood samples rather than urine will be required. The league is preparing contracts that will require players to submit.

* The Melbourne Storm have been fined $10,000 for allowing steroid-banned Rodney Howe to sit on the sideline bench during their pre-season game against Sydney City at Wagga Wagga last weekend.