THE Newcastle Knights are "bitterly disappointed" that the drug testing of Kalyn Ponga and Kurt Mann did not remain confidential.
Knights director of football Peter Parr has joined Rugby League Players' Association CEO Clint Newton in condemning whoever was responsible for leaking news of the tests to the media.
Ponga and Mann were required to provide urine samples after the NRL Integrity Unit reacted to the video that emerged on Monday of a security guard asking them to vacate a toilet cubicle at the Hotel Delany last Saturday.
Ponga's father and manager, Andre, has claimed the pair were in the cubicle because his son was sick and Mann had come to his aid, an explanation that has been widely ridiculed. Intense media scrutiny prompted the Integrity Unit to intervene.
As well as Ponga and Mann, it is understood other Knights players were tested, and Newton told the Newcastle Herald on Wednesday "there is nothing random about how the [drug-testing] policy has been applied in this case".
Newton added that the leaking of the drug tests was an "unmatched breach of confidentiality".
Parr agreed and said the leaking of the information cast the two players in an unfavourable light.
"The drug testing was instigated by the NRL, and our job is to cooperate with what they want to put in place," Parr said.
"But we're bitterly disappointed that somehow that was leaked out.
"How it got out, I don't know, but there is no doubt it should have remained in-house."
Asked if he felt the leak had impacted on public perception, Parr replied: "As soon as something like this happens, it seems people assume the worst, and it's up to you to prove otherwise. That seems to be the world we live in, and that's what has happened in this case as well."
While the issue has been media fodder all week, the outcomes of the Integrity Unit investigation might not be publicly disclosed.
NRL chief executive Andrew Abo said on Wednesday: "We have an illicit-drug policy ... and when someone has a positive test there's a series of protocols that then happen. But those are not made public."
Parr could not confirm if any findings from the Integrity Unit's investigation would be publicised.
"I'm not 100 per cent sure about that," he said. "We'll address that at the conclusion on the Integrity Unit inquiry.
"We're just waiting for them to come back to us with whatever they've found or haven't found, and we'll work out the next step then.
"We can't really comment on what might or might not happen at the end of it."
He said Ponga and Mann "will get their opportunity to say something publicly at some stage, but that's premature at the moment".
The drama is another unwanted issue for coach Adam O'Brien.
Two weeks ago, enforcer David Klemmer was stood down for a game after a run-in with high-performance manager Hayden Knowles, then outside backs Bradman Best and Enari Tuala have been dropped to reserve grade this week after being late for the team bus.
Parr admitted the distractions "don't make things any easier" for O'Brien, but added: "All of these dramas over the last few weeks have been self-inflicted.
"We have to own that and not be feeling sorry for ourselves. We've got to be working out what we have to do to get better. And we've got to do it quickly."
