the whole thing is a clusterf*ck and simply highlights the idiocy in which we police drugs in sport. Seems to me that ASADA made some big claims they couldnt back up and are now offering some very lenient penalties as a way out.
Really there are only two possible scenarios we can look at, The Sharks and their players cheated, they had a systematic programme of drug abuse and the full penalty should be levied. A two year ban and all records of teams they played for should be stripped from the record books (high five everyone, we are now 2011 4 nations champions!)
Or
This wasnt a systematic attempt to cheat and if any offence it is of a technical nature where the responsibility lies with the medical professionals at the Sharks and the players are entirely innocent.
It is only one or the other. Either the ASADA are handing out ridiculously lenient penalties to admitted drugs cheats, or they are punishing innocent people. There arent shades of grey here.Either the players have a strict liability for what is in their bodies, or they are allowed to trust the advice of medical professionals.
