The Roosters players falsely accused of taking illicit substances the night before their Magic Round clash with Cronulla have been allegedly target tested for drugs by the NRL.
Last week, prop Terrell May live-streamed a merchandise giveaway alongside Brandon Smith, Spencer Leniu, Naufahu Whyte, and Zach Dockar-Clay.
A clip of the stream has been doing the rounds on social media since Monday night, with some viewers claiming illicit activity may have taken place during the video.
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The club stated that no breaches of NRL rules occurred during the clip.
However, the NRL has been accused of target testing the players in question for drugs in the wake of the clip.
According to the league, officials can test a player if there’s information the player may have been using drugs, but it has limited power to do so, depending on the time of year.
The NRL’s drug policy is separate from policy delivered from WADA, which tests for performance-enhancing drugs on game day and can result in a four-year ban.
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“It’s an abhorrent abuse of power,” Rugby League Players Association boss Clint Newton told The Sydney Morning Herald.
“The players opt into this policy. If this is the way it’s going to be rolled out, we’ll have a serious think about blowing it up. This is not the way it is intended to be used.”
The NRL uses an independent lab to do its testing but Newton said he wants more information from the league about when target testing can happen and what meets the threshold for a player to be asked for a drug test.