In the 16 months "after the so-called 'blackest day in Australian sport,' anti-doping investigators have been unable to establish" whether any Australian Football League side Essendon players were "given banned substances under sports scientist Stephen Dank's supplements regime," according to Chip Le Grand of THE AUSTRALIAN. With the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority "close to completing a final report of its investigation into the AFL club, no players have been charged and the most pressing question in the Essendon saga" -- whether any were given a banned form of Thymosin -- "remains unanswered." It "appears ASADA may never know the precise chemical make-up of a Thymosin peptide it suspects was administered to at least a dozen players at the club" during the '12 season. There is "also dispute over whether a particular batch of the peptide was administered at Essendon" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 6/3). In Sydney, Chris Barrett reported former National Rugby League side Canberra player Sandor Earl's lawyer said that Earl has "had a charge of trafficking a banned substance dropped," a "huge" development that proves the NRL was "wrong to publicly reveal allegations about him last year." Earl, 24, had "been notified last week that the trafficking component of charges against him had been removed by the anti-doping watchdog," which has "finally included him on their Register of Findings." Entry on that list is the "precursor to an athlete being issued an infraction notice" (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 6/2).
