Friday 19 September 2014 16:21, UK
Leeds Rhinos chief executive Gary Hetherington has revealed his concerns over a potential two-year suspension for hooker Paul Aiton after confirming the hooker has been contacted by the Australian Anti-Doping Agency.
Reports from Australia suggest the Papua New Guinea international is facing a two-year ban over alleged use of banned substances while playing with NRL side Cronulla Sharks.
Aiton was named by ASADA in the week leading up to the Tetley’s Challenge Cup final as one of 17 players to have allegedly used banned peptides in 2011.
He has now been contacted by ASADA and I will meet Paul and will be making contact with the RFL, as the game’s governing body, to understand what their stance is.
Twelve of the players interviewed by ASADA took reduced three-month bans as part of a deal with the agency, but 29-year-old Aiton is understood to now be facing the full suspension as he did not participate in talks even though he claims he was never invited to do so.
“My understanding is that Paul has not been part of the investigation at all,” Hetherington told the Yorkshire Evening Post.
“He has had no interviews and up to now no contact from anybody at all. All he knows about it is what he has read in the press.
“He has now been contacted by ASADA and I will meet Paul and will be making contact with the RFL, as the game’s governing body, to understand what their stance is.”
Hetherington, who brought Aiton to Headingley from Wakefield Trinity Wildcats for £70,000 last winter, plans to seek advice from the RFL in a bid to support his player.
“In Australia the NRL and players’ association over there dealt with all the legal representation for the players," he continued.
“I will be asking the RFL what their role and position will be in this.
“We also don’t know what jurisdiction ASADA have in England. The club has not been involved at all – this has come out of the blue.
“It is a concern, when it is something that goes back to 2011 and you have absolutely no knowledge or involvement at all and then it crops up like this.”
Aiton, who helped Leeds win the Tetley’s Challenge Cup against Castleford Tigers at Wembley, is included in their 19-man squad for tomorrow’s Super League elimination play-off against Catalan Dragons.
