Officials tired of the lack of progress suggest an alternate path.
NRL officials and power-brokers are tempted to call for a drugs amnesty in a bid to help the Australian Sport Anti-Doping Authority to crack open currently enveloping the code.
As the competition enters week nine, influential people inside the game are fed up with the constant speculation of who is guilty and of what.
Under the proposed scheme, playing from all 16 clubs would be free to come forward and give information anonymously.
If players chose to do so, they would escape punishment or suspension unless they tested positive to drugs themselves, in which case they would received a life ban from the game.
Despite having some merits the idea is yet to be tested for legality with world doping authorities.
Former player and now analyst Gordan Tallis said the game should seriously think about introducing the amnesty if it can be implemented.
“As supporters of the game, we’ve all been waiting for ASADA to make some inroads, but we keep on hitting roadblocks,” Tallis said.
“It’s just a big legal battle. The only winners will be the courts and the lawyers. I want to see the game move forward. No one is talking sense, but this is a good idea.
“If players come forward and tell everything they know, it might just turn up the organised crime figures or the peddlers we’ve been trying to catch.
Everyone in the game goes on notice. They’ve got one month to come clean with everything. Then every player gets a blood doping passport and we resume as normal.”
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