Canberra chief executive Don Furner says a 30-minute briefing from Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority officials on Thursday was very beneficial in a stressful week for the club.

The Raiders were one of six NRL clubs mentioned in the Australian Crime Commission’s report on its year-long investigation focussed on new-age sports doping and crime links.

None of the Raiders’ current staff and squad are believed to be under investigation but Furner wanted all to be as well informed as possible.

“They (ASADA) are based here in Canberra so I asked them to come along and they did, which was good of them,” Furner told AAP.

“They answered questions from the players, explained the nature of the investigation and explained they understood the frustration that it could take longer.

“They outlined that they still have to follow their procedure and the governance they are under in terms of privacy and collecting information.”

Furner said there had been plenty of questions from the players about how and why the club have been implicated and he wanted to make sure they were kept as up to date as possible.

“I said to ASADA I was briefing the players on Thursday and asked them if they’d like to come along and ensure I was passing on the right information and could answer any questions I couldn’t,” he said.

“The major question was how come it is a blanket investigation and not individuals.

“ASADA explained that this was down to the privacy of the individuals and they had to be protected and it means they have to blanket a whole club until it has been cleared up.

“That is one of the downsides of the investigation, but they have to follow procedures because it’s a police matter.

“But it effectively went public when the Crime Commission report became public unfortunately.”

Furner said he empathised with the comments made by North Queensland coach Neil Henry on Wednesday.

Henry condemned the ACC’s process and was angered his club’s name had effectively been forced out publicly in connection with the report before even they knew any detail of the alleged involvement.

“All the clubs feel the same way,” Furner said.

“All the players, all the staff feel under suspicion. It is a very strange time.

“But, as we have already said, we will cooperate with the investigation in every way we can.”