Todd Carney's sacking and the resignation of Cronulla coach Peter Sharp can be directly linked to the crippling effect the ASADA investigation is having, says the NRL's chief operating officer Jim Doyle.
Doyle says it's unacceptable that the ASADA saga has gone on for 18 months and this has contributed to the crisis at Cronulla both on and off the field.
Although Carney has a long track record for alcohol-related incidents, it's been reported that the 28-year-old fell back into bad habits since Cronulla coach Shane Flanagan was suspended over the club's 2011 supplement programme.
Doyle maintains the ASADA issue's played a part in Carney's sacking because the Sharks had been left desperate to find major sponsors as a result of continual bad press over the drug probe.
He says he feels for Sharks chief executive Steve Noyce, and maintains he'd have have made the same decision to sack Carney if he was head of an NRL club, as he will be later this year when he heads to the Warriors.
Doyle stuck by his original stance that it would be "highly unlikely" that the NRL would register another contract for Carney.
