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NRL 2024: Roosters deny any use of illicit substances in Twitch live stream | Daily Telegraph​

d4a823cd12dbb8e77eec8567fcc13e9d

The Roosters have strongly hit out at suggestions their players were doing anything untoward after social media pages went into a meltdown on Monday night.
The clip shows the players in a hotel room talking into a live stream as they gave away a host of Roosters gear. There is nothing damaging in the video. The NRL reached out to the Roosters.

“The live stream in question was part of a transparent one-hour interaction with one of our player’s followers on the evening before the club’s round 11 match,” a Roosters statement read. “The players who featured in the stream selected winners for several giveaways of jerseys, boots and caps. The players were fully aware they were being viewed by participants in the live stream.

Terrell May and Brandon Smith were among the roosters players who participated in a livestream on Twitch. Picture: Supplied

Terrell May and Brandon Smith were among the roosters players who participated in a livestream on Twitch. Picture: Supplied
“The clip reveals no use of illicit substances or any other breach of NRL rules, however some see fit to make that grossly distorted and clearly damaging claim.

“The Sydney Roosters uphold the highest standards of conduct and integrity, both on and off the field. Our players adhere to all NRL policies, including its rigorous drug testing and education programs.

“As a club we remind those on social media that we take the defamatory statements some have made very seriously, and we are conducting a thorough investigation to identify the source(s) of several false accusations. Legal action will be pursued against those found responsible for spreading damaging and unsubstantiated claims.”
 
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NRL 2024: Roosters deny any use of illicit substances in Twitch live stream | Daily Telegraph​

d4a823cd12dbb8e77eec8567fcc13e9d

The Roosters have strongly hit out at suggestions their players were doing anything untoward after social media pages went into a meltdown on Monday night.
The clip shows the players in a hotel room talking into a live stream as they gave away a host of Roosters gear. There is nothing damaging in the video. The NRL reached out to the Roosters.

“The live stream in question was part of a transparent one-hour interaction with one of our player’s followers on the evening before the club’s round 11 match,” a Roosters statement read. “The players who featured in the stream selected winners for several giveaways of jerseys, boots and caps. The players were fully aware they were being viewed by participants in the live stream.

Terrell May and Brandon Smith were among the roosters players who participated in a livestream on Twitch. Picture: Supplied

Terrell May and Brandon Smith were among the roosters players who participated in a livestream on Twitch. Picture: Supplied
“The clip reveals no use of illicit substances or any other breach of NRL rules, however some see fit to make that grossly distorted and clearly damaging claim.

“The Sydney Roosters uphold the highest standards of conduct and integrity, both on and off the field. Our players adhere to all NRL policies, including its rigorous drug testing and education programs.

“As a club we remind those on social media that we take the defamatory statements some have made very seriously, and we are conducting a thorough investigation to identify the source(s) of several false accusations. Legal action will be pursued against those found responsible for spreading damaging and unsubstantiated claims.”
What about the cracking up at the guy's dead mother part. Highest standards of integrity.
 
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Yeah those Roosters are perfect in every way eh but make the mistake of thinking the rest of us are dim witted. . Bloody hell, that blurb is just pathetic.
Was the same last year when Ponga and another player were caught in a toilet stall. Common sense says what they were doing
 
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Then there is the irony of Kent now using the mental health act to get off his charge… remembering he wrote this in 2021.

View attachment 7310


Some might say he has pulled a 360.

I am trying to give Kent the benefit of the doubt in terms of his mental health, as is only fair for one and all.

But a decent Psychiatrist would not give him a pass with the Courts anyway, even if he has issues, well that is how it works in New Zealand, you only get off if you are not guilty by reason of insanity, but compulsory treatment and detainment still comes with that avenue.

Dunno how the Courts in Australia work in terms of a submission by a Psychiatrist.

It seems as though he may be getting steered down this path by his Lawyer, and the request for the delay is so that he can appear while in treatment, rather than the other way around, appear then be directed by the courts to attend the likes of anger management and substance abuse.

It looks better for him if he can say he is in treatment, sought by himself, rather than being told to get treatment.

All that aside, if Australia operates anything like NZ, you still have to go to court and face the consequences, the only mitigating effect of claiming anger and alcohol issues is the possibility of the Judge exercising discretion at sentencing.

In NZ if he had been found guilty of his previous charge, and had received diversion, then this case would be far more serious, he could be looking at jail, fortunately for him he got off the domestic violence charges, however in the court of public opinion, mud sticks, people will always wonder....
 
NRL target tests Roosters players for illicit substances following bogus social media claims
Andrew WebsterMay 22, 2024 — 3.56pm
Listen to this article

The NRL target tested four of the Roosters players falsely accused on social media of taking illicit substances the night before their Magic Round clash with Cronulla.

Which immediately begs the question: why?

Why is the NRL reacting to grossly inaccurate scuttlebutt on Twitter?

Why isn’t it backing its players instead of cocking a suspicious eyebrow while asking them to submit a urine sample?

“It’s an abhorrent abuse of power,” Rugby League Players Association boss Clint Newton said. “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.”

A quick recap for those playing at home …

On Friday night, prop Terrell May live-streamed an event on a platform called Twitch alongside teammates Brandon Smith, Spencer Leniu, Zach Dockar-Clay, and Naufahu Whyte.

They were giving away jerseys, boots and caps to fans, giggling all the while. It was good, clean wholesome fun the night before the match of Magic Round against the Sharkies.

By Monday, a small clip taken from the 89-minute live-stream had made its way onto social media, allegedly proving the players had taken illicit substances, presumably cocaine.

Like most of the theories floated on social media, it was BS.

Because one player had rubbed his nose and another licked his lips, the mob was convinced they were doing something untoward.

One reporter didn’t help when he suggested on Twitter that a “video of a big-name player doing some white powder is about to go viral”.

I gave up on social media long ago. When the video made its way into the mainstream media, I checked it out ...

There was no white powder. No reenactment of the final scenes from Scarface. It didn’t even show players in a mind-altered state. You didn’t have to be a DCM nightclub regular in the late 1990s to conclude they were as sober as Wayne Bennett at church on Sunday.

Understandably, the Roosters were furious about the whole thing, prompting them to take the extraordinary step of issuing a lengthy media release smacking down the bogus accusations.

“The clip reveals no use of illicit substances or any other breach of NRL rules,” the statement said, adding the club’s lawyers were scouring the internet for “defamatory statements” and that “legal action” would be pursued.

Imagine the club’s surprise, then, when NRL drug testers lobbed at training at Moore Park on Tuesday to target test four of the players in the video.

The Roosters declined to comment, but numerous well-placed sources at the club speaking on condition of anonymity in order to comment freely confirmed the players in the video were singled out for testing.

‘Like most of the theories floated on social media, it was BS.’

The NRL’s illicit drugs policy is separate to the WADA code, which tests for performance-enhancing drugs on game day and can result in a four-year ban.

Players can be target tested, according to the NRL, if it has information the player may have been using drugs, although it depends on the time of year.

In 2021, Smith and then Melbourne Storm teammates Cameron Munster and Chris Lewis were each suspended for one match and fined a total of $49,000 after a video emerged of the three players in a hotel room with a white substance on the table.

Storm boss Justin Rodski confirmed at the time that the trio wasn’t tested because the incident occurred out of season, if only by a few days.

In 2022, Newcastle Knights players Kalyn Ponga and Kurt Mann were target-tested after video emerged of them leaving a toilet cubicle together in a Newcastle pub.

The results are confidential.

Last September, North Queensland star Valentine Holmes was suspended for one match and fined $25,000 for posting on Instagram a selfie of himself with a bag containing white powder.

Because the incident happened while he was on annual leave, he could not be target-tested as per the collective bargaining agreement.

More recently, Sharks players were target tested three days after five-eighth Braydon Trindall allegedly failed roadside illicit drugs and alcohol tests the morning after their round-seven win over North Queensland.

The NRL, which also declined to comment, uses an independent pathology laboratory to do its testing. It has no say in who or when clubs are targeted. It’s done at arm’s length.

Its policy also states that it “should be impossible for an individual player to know how many tests he may face” and “the timing of each testing session varies so that there will be no pattern discernible to the players as to when tests will take place”.

Nevertheless, Newton wants clarification about when target testing is allowed.

“Someone at the NRL needs to explain what the threshold of a target test is because that’s what this was,” he said. “Anyone who says different may as well change their name to Pinocchio.”

If Pinocchio were an NRL player, he’d be target-tested every week.

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