The Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority investigation into banned drug use at National Rugby League side Cronulla "has been narrowed down to four members of the 2011 team, who are set to be issued with show cause notices by the end of this month." Well-placed sources have confirmed the first wave of action against Sharks players "is imminent -- more than a year after Cronulla was identified as the club at the centre of ASADA’s probe into the NRL" (Sydney DAILY TELEGRAPH, 3/12). ... The Australian Rugby Union "will develop a uniform set of team protocols spanning Super Rugby and the Wallabies as a result of the fall-out from last year's spring tour controversy" (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 3/11). ... Australian Football League clubs said that they "are winning the war against illicit drug use and 'volcanic' behaviour" a year after Collingwood CEO Gary Pert’s "provocative call to arms." Twenty-six strikes and more than 20 self-reporting episodes were recorded in '12, "a dramatic increase on previous years" (HERALD SUN, 3/11). ... The NRL said that it is "speaking with a junior rugby league player believed to have racially abused Brisbane star Ben Barba on social media." Its intervention "came as Barba's father Ken called on the governing body to crack down on racism" (CANBERRA TIMES, 3/11).
