North Queensland NRL club will explore their legal options for redressing damage done after being dragged into Australian sport’s doping scandal.
Angry Cowboys chief executive Peter Jourdain indicated on Thursday his club felt it was hung out to dry while subsequent talks with the Australian Sport Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) showed they had no cause for concern.
He said the club owed it to their players and fans to see whether there were legal avenues open to them.
“We feel like we’re entitled to be a little bit aggrieved by the process,” said Jourdain, a day after his coach Neil Henry had slammed both the NRL and the Australian Crime Commission (ACC) over their handling of the whole affair.
“I’m not sure why it needed to be so public.
“I think we could have provided the information they wanted within about two hours on Monday afternoon.
“From a club’s perspective, we’re going to have to look at our legal options and where we go from here but that may take some time.
“It is important to point out that at no time were any allegations made against the Cowboys,” Jourdain added.
“We were asked to cooperate with ASADA’s investigations and provide some information which we have now done.
“As far as we are concerned, and aware, our involvement with ASADA on this issue has concluded.”
The Cowboys were advised by the NRL on Monday that they were among NRL clubs mentioned in the ACC report on its investigation into doping in professional sport and crime links, but given no more information at that stage.
Jourdain issued a statement on Monday night acknowledging exactly that, before attending the initial ASADA briefing on Tuesday along with the other five clubs mentioned – Manly, Cronulla, Canberra, Penrith and Newcastle.
Jourdain, who could not reveal any details of his talks with ASADA or officials from the ACC, was always confident the club had no case to answer.
He said: “Look, I’m not a lawyer but we’re going to look at what is available.
“We’ve got a lawyer on our board and we will start the process there.
“We owe it to our players, our club and our fans to explore all the options.”
