NRL joins AFL in identifying players it suspects of drug use for testing target ‘list’

The NRL’s in-house spies are collecting intelligence on players they suspect are using drugs, and have sent a list of athletes to Sport Integrity Australia they believe should be targeted for testing. It is a practice also used by the AFL, but with uncertain benefits. Of the 51 names on a list provided by the AFL – as revealed by the Australian National Audit Office in March – just one has returned an adverse analytical finding. The revelations shed light on the practice within the major sporting codes, which are paying the independent integrity agency to collect samples, while also advising on players they suspect are breaching anti-doping rules – a relationship that has drawn concern from federal MPs. Related: ‘Counterfeiting a code’: NRL announces 10-year ban for players who engage with R360 Information provided by SIA to a parliamentary inquiry this week confirmed the NRL provides a testing target “list” of names, while other sports also co-operate in a more ad-hoc fashion. “Only the NRL and AFL have provided names for possible target testing in a specific ‘list’ format (as opposed to providing intelligence through other singular one off sources such as email, phone, or SIA anonymous tip-off lines),” stated SIA’s submission. “We also actively seek input from government funded sports to identify athletes and cohorts suitable for testing.” The use of illicit drugs in the AFL has been in the headlines for the past two years, since the practice of pulling players with drugs in their system from matches was revealed, and talks continue with the AFL Players’ Association over a new illicit drugs code. Although just one of the 51 targeted players returned an adverse analytical finding, SIA testing of AFL players triggered four positive results across 2023 and 2024. In the NRL, the issue of illegal substances exploded this year when Souths hooker Brandon Smith was charged with supply of drugs following an investigation by Queensland police. Smith intends to plead not guilty. SIA collected 718 samples from rugby league players across 2023 and 2024, more than double any other sport. The NRL declined to comment. Interactive The parliamentary inquiry was prompted by an Australian National Audit Office report into SIA, including the disclosure that the AFL had sent a list of 51 players to the organisation for testing. The news shocked the footy world, and drew concerns from players about how the AFL was handling the use of both recreational and performance-enhancing drugs. The report made seven recommendations to SIA, which require an overhaul of testing in sports such as AFL and NRL. The regulator has agreed to each one, but has also maintained that its officials have always decided who is tested. The two major winter sports, in addition to cricket, football, rugby union and basketball, pay for a share of SIA’s cost of each test under the user-pays model. On average in 2023-24, the cost per test was $869. SIA currently selects athletes for testing based on a range of factors, including their sport performance history, repeated failure to meet whereabouts requirements, moving to remote locations, withdrawal from competitions, financial incentives and reliable information from third parties. The information is kept in a “tracker”, which helps monitor athletes SIA is considering testing. The integrity body confirmed all 51 of the AFL’s target list warranted testing under its own assessment. The insights into the operation of SIA have also raised concerns around the independence of the body, given the major codes are both paying for testing and sending names to test. A federal parliamentary hearing in October included SIA executives explaining the practice, to which committee chair and Labor MP Josh Burns replied: “I feel like that’s a pretty big deal. If the NRL is saying to Sport Integrity Australia, ‘These are the players we’d like you to test,’ that would put a big alarm bell around some of those players.” Chris Butler, head of sport operations at SIA, said his organisation appreciated receiving information from the sporting bodies. “We expect that those sports themselves have the capacity to fund that, have the capacity to understand the risk and have the ability to share that with us to inform our testing decisions.” Senator Matt O’Sullivan said the use of targeted testing lists required further investigation. “It could be gamed in such a way that it’s set up as a decoy, saying, ‘Here look at these people,’ because they’re low-risk, which then takes the limited resources you have to focus on them, rather than the broader picture—I’m not suggesting that that’s what has happened, but it potentially could.”