Updated
The prospect of amnesties for players and officials implicated in Australian sport's doping and corruption scandal has been raised at a meeting between NRL clubs and doping officials.
Manly, Cronulla, Canberra, Penrith, Newcastle and North Queensland have all been named in the Australian Crime Commission's investigation.
Representatives from all six clubs were given further information about the investigation at a meeting meeting with ASADA representatives chaired by NRL legal counsel Tony Whitlam QC.
Each club representative also had the opportunity to discuss their respective situations individually with the ASADA representatives.
Manly chief executive David Perry said he cannot reveal details of the meeting, but says the possibility of amnesties for those who come forward was discussed.
"They were, but I'm not going to comment too much on the detail at the moment," Perry said.
"That's something that we need to communicate internally and get advice from ASADA on how to communicate that through our league team."
Canberra head coach David Furner said he does not believe there is a systemic problem of doping at his club, but says all NRL sides are very willing to cooperate with ASADA.
"It is definitely not a systemic problem ... in that respect, we're happy to open our club up, we're drug tested regularly ... and independently audited. I'm happy to open that all up," Furner told Grandstand.
"We are happy to cooperate with ASADA, their investigation has just started.
"Going into that interview, I was very confident about our club and our staff and our processes. I'm still very confident about what we're doing and the processes we have in place."
North Queensland chief executive Peter Jourdain said he learnt how his club was implicated in the investigation.
"ASADA has put together a complex web of involvement that has tentative connections with the Cowboys," Jourdain said in a statement.
"We believe we can have this matter as it relates to us cleared up in the not too distant future."
Penrith general manager Phil Gould said the investigation process would continue for some time.
"We're very clear on what ASADA has had to say and we understand that this is a drawn out process," Gould said.
"We totally support it and we are far better understanding of what they are doing. It won't happen over a couple of weeks, it will take some time to get to the bottom of it."
Gould said he can understand fans are frustrated by what is going on behind closed doors but he said the game will be better for it at the conclusion of the investigations.
The meeting with the six clubs followed a media conference earlier in the day with NRL chief executive David Smith.
Smith gave almost nothing away about the doping investigations but tried to assure the rugby league community the NRL was taking the problem seriously.
The NRL boss pointed to the league's establishment of a new integrity unit and a phone hotline to allow people to come forward with information.
"What I can say ... is that the vast majority of our players and team officials do the right thing," Smith said.
Topics: nrl, rugby-league, sport, doping-in-sports, penrith-2750, cronulla-2230, nsw, canberra-2600, act, newcastle-2300, qld, townsville-4810, manly-2095, australia
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