National Rugby League club Manly player David Williams has leapt to the defense of Sean Carolan, the personal trainer and nutritional guru who conducted "unsanctioned tests for human growth hormone" at Sydney Roosters in the preseason, saying his own association with the Nubodi Group owner consisted of being "either in the gym or eating at a sushi bar," according to Chris Barrett of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. Carolan, 39, "was sacked by the Roosters in January after it was discovered his company, hired to implement a dietary and detox plan, had been testing players' HGH levels without the knowledge of club doctor John Orchard." Last week "blood test results were found on a seized telephone" belonging to Khan Alameddine, 28, a person with known links to organized crime. These showed six players "had elevated HGH counts." Later testing by club medical staff "did not show higher than usual levels of HGH in the players" (SMH, 9/30). In Melbourne, Andrew Wu wrote Australian Football League Sydney Swans Chair Richard Colless has urged the AFL to investigate the club "as soon as possible," saying the Swans have done nothing wrong in their bid to lure Hawthorne FC player Lance Franklin. He has also defended the AFL's cost-of-living allowance to the two Sydney-based clubs "in the face of mounting criticism from Victorian clubs, who have called for it to be scrapped by the league" (THE AGE, 10/1).
