The great shame about Jarrod Mullen testing positive to steroids is he's one of the good guys.
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When an off-season scandal erupts in the NRL, it comes from a handful of usual suspects. Come on down James Roberts.
News late on Tuesday that Mullen had been provisionally suspended for testing positive to the banned anabolic steroid Drostanolone came out of nowhere.
But cheating is cheating and the Knights playmaker now faces the likely possibility of never playing in the NRL again.
Under the game's anti-doping policy, he faces a possible ban of four years.
He has indicated to the Knights that he will have his B-sample analysed before a deadline of January 31. If the B-sample is positive, he can accept a ban or take the matter to a drugs tribunal. Any reduction would only come under the most extenuating of circumstances.
Mullen deserves the presumption of innocence but the grim look on the face of chief executive Matt Gidley at a door-stop media conference in Newcastle late in the day told how serious the matter is.
"I can't believe it," Gidley said. "It's hugely disappointing for a player I've known for 20 years. He's an experienced player, so it's disappointing for everyone involved."
Gidley said Mullen had not offered an explanation for his positive test when they met on Tuesday morning.
Mullen's battle with injuries in the last four years, of course, is well known.
Last year, he ripped his hamstring off the bone in the Anzac Day clash with Manly, sidelining him for three months after he required surgery.
In November, he tore the hamstring again. A week later, on November 29, he was tested by ASADA officials.
Drostanolone is a steroid that has been in use for decades, most commonly by bodybuilders.
It is also used as a performance-enhancing substance by elite athletes because it improves strength without significant weight gains. There are also examples of the drug being used as a cutting agent with cocaine.
Gidley said Mullen was "devastated" and the club would support him — but the Knights boss was cutting him little slack. He wanted it made clear that Mullen had gone outside the boundaries of the club.
Asked if this would be career-ending for Mullen, Gidley said: "I think the consequences are pretty severe. I don't want to speculate around what the B sample might tell us [but] we spend a lot of time here educating our players.
"It's a huge shock ... He's gone outside the club and taken advice from someone and now he's going to pay a price. It's come from someone outside the club. I want to make that really clear. We can't control what players do when they leave the club and who they take advice from."
And that's where the shame of this story comes in.
Born in Singleton, raised in Newcastle, an Australian schoolboys rep, the rookie halfback thrown into a NSW jumper and State of Origin ahead of his time, the playmaker unfairly expected to fill the void left by Andrew Johns after he suffered a career-ending neck injury, the local boy who has played more than 200 games despite serious injuries, Mullen has been one of the Knights' favourite sons.
He was adamant after re-injuring his hamstring that he would be playing in the Auckland Nines in February.
"If it keeps going it will be pretty hard to get back," Mullen told Fairfax Media. "I just have to be patient with it, and hopefully it gets stronger before the start of the season."
He'd impressed Knights coach Nathan Brown with his commitment at training, despite the likelihood of taking a back seat with the direction of the side this year. He was looking at more time off the bench. More time at hooker.
"We just hope Jarrod plays consecutive games this season," coach Nathan Brown told Sky Sports Radio last week.
Notwithstanding the likelihood of a tough season on the field for last year's wooden spooners, the Knights are slowly pointing themselves in the right direction as it recovers from the Nathan Tinkler apocalypse.
The club remains in the hands of the NRL but head office wants a buyer. One Newcastle group of businessmen in December launched a bold bid to turn the club into the Green Bay Packers.
By selling shares of $500 each to members and owners, it could deliver the Knights into the hands of the people who care about them most — the community.
To be dealt a body blow from one of its own, just six weeks out from the start of the season, is the greatest shame of all.
