National Rugby League side Cronulla players "have been encouraged" to attend Wednesday's "information session with the NRL over the use of supplements at the club" in '11 and are "expected to learn whether they will receive show cause notices," according to Stuart Honeysett of THE AUSTRALIAN. The NRL will be "hoping to bring the protracted 18-month saga to a head today when it updates players" and or their legal representatives on the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority investigation and "any options they have regarding suspensions." Up to 17 players could reportedly "be affected" by the meeting. Cronulla CEO Steve Noyce said that it was "in the players' best interests" to attend the meeting to "hear any information first-hand rather than deal with constant speculation from the media" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 8/20). In Sydney, Roy Masters wrote the 18-month long ASADA investigation into Cronulla and AFL side Essendon, "now known as 'asaga,' is likely to last another three years, irrespective of what happens on Wednesday when past and present Sharks meet to hear proposed sanctions by the NRL." Past and present Essendon players are "yet to litigate against the club for its year-long supplements regime, with those footballers who have subsequently left Windy Hill likely to be the first, should legal action be initiated." Lawyers acting for players "embroiled in the case anticipate it will take three years before all the parties involved enforce every avenue of appeal, including challenges to any findings by the judicial panels convened by the AFL and NRL" (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 8/19).
