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Photos of Roosters players' blood tests deliberately leaked to suspected drug dealer
Josh Massoud, James Hooper •
The Daily Telegraph •
September 27, 2013 12:00AM
PHOTOGRAPHS of blood tests showing elevated testosterone and HGH levels for three Sydney Roosters players were taken without permission and deliberately leaked to a figure suspected of dealing illicit party and performance enhancing drugs.
The murky web that's dragged the minor premiers into ASADA's long-running investigation starts in a private clinic on George St, where blood tests taken for the entire Roosters squad in November last year were stored.
Now abandoned, the clinic belonged to fitness and health expert Sean Caloran, whose company Nubodi was engaged over the off-season to design a raw food diet for the NRL team.
A few months earlier Caloran started personal training sessions with Roosters prop Marty Kennedy and Raiders winger Sandor Earl at a Fitness First Studio in nearby King St.
Impressed with Caloran's program, Kennedy recommended his services to the Roosters.
The front rower and Earl, who have been friends since their days together at Matraville Sports High, also wanted Caloran to hire a common friend named Ben Darcy who attended the same school.
Darcy played junior representative football at the Roosters in 2009, convincing Caloran to take him on.
The former half/hooker worked at Nubodi while preliminary blood samples were extracted to determine various baseline levels for the players, including testosterone and HGH.
Three players - Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Boyd Cordner and Sam Moa - returned higher levels, but the club was not informed.
The Daily Telegraph does not suggest that Caloran gave any player drugs of any kind.
The team finished the raw food diet in January, with some players complaining that it made them weak and lethargic. It's understood club doctor John Orchard and strength coach Craig Walker were not impressed upon discovering the team had been restricting themselves to raw food for a fortnight, without consultation.
Upon receiving a $14,000 invoice for the diet and tests, the Roosters asked Caloran to scale back his involvement. He parted ways with the club and sacked Darcy a short time later.
A source close to Caloran claimed Darcy was dismissed after being repeatedly warned about bringing certain associates to the Nubodi clinic and personal training sessions.
The Daily Telegraph has confirmed that one of those associates is the same person who obtained possession of photographs of the Roosters blood tests. Caloran believes they were leaked after someone broke into his files.
Authorities intercepted the photographs when Darcy and the associate were returning from a holiday to Thailand in April. Both men were stopped at customs in Sydney and asked to hand over their mobile phones, one of which contained the photographs of the three Roosters blood tests.
ASADA were informed of the test results shortly afterwards. Then, midway through this year, authorities contacted the Roosters about them out of fears they could equal health complications.
ASADA has not issued any interview notices in relation to the tests, showing Tuivasa-Sheck, Moa and Cordner have no case to answer on that front. Subsequent tests taken by the Roosters have found normal levels for all three players, and have been supplied to ASADA.
The NRL Integrity Unit was also informed of the test anomalies several months ago. But any players with links to Darcy could still be in the crosshairs.
Kennedy used to live in the same Bondi Beach apartment complex as Darcy, while former Roosters lock Tom Symonds - now at Manly - shares a flat with ASADA's new man of the moment.
Kennedy has also emerged as a loyal supporter of Darcy. When Darcy opened a Nutrition Station protein shake and frozen yoghurt franchise in June, Kennedy promoted the launch and posed in photographs at the front of the shop with his old schoolmate.
Currently in Thailand with Earl, Darcy did not respond to requests for comment on Thursday night. Nor did Caloran, a father-of-six who once trained racehorses at Rosehill and now lives on an acreage in Luddenham, in Sydney's far west.
Caloran spent much of Thursday away from the property, consulting with lawyers about defamation action over media headlines linking him to the administration of illicit drugs at the Roosters.
Josh Massoud, James Hooper •
The Daily Telegraph •
September 27, 2013 12:00AM
PHOTOGRAPHS of blood tests showing elevated testosterone and HGH levels for three Sydney Roosters players were taken without permission and deliberately leaked to a figure suspected of dealing illicit party and performance enhancing drugs.
The murky web that's dragged the minor premiers into ASADA's long-running investigation starts in a private clinic on George St, where blood tests taken for the entire Roosters squad in November last year were stored.
Now abandoned, the clinic belonged to fitness and health expert Sean Caloran, whose company Nubodi was engaged over the off-season to design a raw food diet for the NRL team.
A few months earlier Caloran started personal training sessions with Roosters prop Marty Kennedy and Raiders winger Sandor Earl at a Fitness First Studio in nearby King St.
Impressed with Caloran's program, Kennedy recommended his services to the Roosters.
The front rower and Earl, who have been friends since their days together at Matraville Sports High, also wanted Caloran to hire a common friend named Ben Darcy who attended the same school.
Darcy played junior representative football at the Roosters in 2009, convincing Caloran to take him on.
The former half/hooker worked at Nubodi while preliminary blood samples were extracted to determine various baseline levels for the players, including testosterone and HGH.
Three players - Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Boyd Cordner and Sam Moa - returned higher levels, but the club was not informed.
The Daily Telegraph does not suggest that Caloran gave any player drugs of any kind.
The team finished the raw food diet in January, with some players complaining that it made them weak and lethargic. It's understood club doctor John Orchard and strength coach Craig Walker were not impressed upon discovering the team had been restricting themselves to raw food for a fortnight, without consultation.
Upon receiving a $14,000 invoice for the diet and tests, the Roosters asked Caloran to scale back his involvement. He parted ways with the club and sacked Darcy a short time later.
A source close to Caloran claimed Darcy was dismissed after being repeatedly warned about bringing certain associates to the Nubodi clinic and personal training sessions.
The Daily Telegraph has confirmed that one of those associates is the same person who obtained possession of photographs of the Roosters blood tests. Caloran believes they were leaked after someone broke into his files.
Authorities intercepted the photographs when Darcy and the associate were returning from a holiday to Thailand in April. Both men were stopped at customs in Sydney and asked to hand over their mobile phones, one of which contained the photographs of the three Roosters blood tests.
ASADA were informed of the test results shortly afterwards. Then, midway through this year, authorities contacted the Roosters about them out of fears they could equal health complications.
ASADA has not issued any interview notices in relation to the tests, showing Tuivasa-Sheck, Moa and Cordner have no case to answer on that front. Subsequent tests taken by the Roosters have found normal levels for all three players, and have been supplied to ASADA.
The NRL Integrity Unit was also informed of the test anomalies several months ago. But any players with links to Darcy could still be in the crosshairs.
Kennedy used to live in the same Bondi Beach apartment complex as Darcy, while former Roosters lock Tom Symonds - now at Manly - shares a flat with ASADA's new man of the moment.
Kennedy has also emerged as a loyal supporter of Darcy. When Darcy opened a Nutrition Station protein shake and frozen yoghurt franchise in June, Kennedy promoted the launch and posed in photographs at the front of the shop with his old schoolmate.
Currently in Thailand with Earl, Darcy did not respond to requests for comment on Thursday night. Nor did Caloran, a father-of-six who once trained racehorses at Rosehill and now lives on an acreage in Luddenham, in Sydney's far west.
Caloran spent much of Thursday away from the property, consulting with lawyers about defamation action over media headlines linking him to the administration of illicit drugs at the Roosters.
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