Smith confirmed reports in today's Daily Telegraph that he was pushing the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) to speed up its investigation, but admitted a resolution could still be months away. "What has always been said is that this would go for months not weeks," Smith said. (The investigation) could go down other avenues. Smith said at least three members of the NRL's Integrity Unit had been working "directly with the ASADA team" for the last five weeks and he would continue to. "We will do everything we can to help ASADA get to the end of their investigation as quickly as possible," he said. We need this cloud to be lifted as quickly as possible. My objective as the CEO of the NRL is to get us through to the point where we start talking about the football again. Smith said he was frustrated by the speculation surrounding the investigation but stated the NRL "had to let it run its course." "It's mid investigation - it's not surprising that there's not a lot of fact," he said. We're having to deal with a lack of information and a lack of facts. It's incredibly difficult. It's frustrating for me having to deal with it and frustrating for the fans and the people I've spoken to over the last couple of days. Smith said the NRL was working to support the Cronulla Sharks, who have been at the centre of the ASADA probe, and confirmed the scandal was likely to spread to other clubs. Cronulla stood down coach Shane Flanagan and sacked four officials on the eve of the season last Friday, leaving both players and staff in the lurch as they ponder the future of the club. "The Cronulla players are part of an investigation that's underway," Smith said. In the past 4-5 days we've seen a difficult situation for the Cronulla club, what we have done (is offer support). We are there for them right now. He said he thought the board had acted decisively after conducting their own independent review. We've put in a CEO, we've put in a finance person. We've put a person to help with the welfare of the players and the fans and the community," he said. We're trying to support them. The key thing is we get Cronulla through that situation. The key thing is we do whatever we can do to help. The Daily Telegraph today revealed Smith had demanded the Gillard government dedicate more resources to the ASADA team. "ASADA has been given a huge task and it needs more resources to get it done as it only has a small unit for a very large task," Smith said. Asked to comment on claims by Sharks chairman, Damian Irvine, that players had been given horse drugs Smith said making comment about specific claims before the investigation ended "would not be the right thing to do." Smith will meet with the agency's CEO Aurora Andruska this Friday to work through the issues "as a matter of urgency." "I have always said the ASADA investigation must run its course, but it also must have the capability to complete it in a reasonable time," Smith said. While Smith has been in constant contact with ASADA over the issue, he said the last he heard from Sports Minister Kate Lundy was "about 10 days ago" - before the latest saga occurred at the Cronulla Sharks - when he raised his concerns about how long the investigation was taking. She said she had spoken to Smith "a week or so ago." "I am making sure I am well briefed and where it us up to," she said. Lundy said she would consider boosting the number of ASADA investigators, if the agency requested it. Lundy also warned clubs not to interfere with the process or integrity of the investigation. Smith also revealed that ASADA would take at least another month before it was finished with the Cronulla aspect of the doping scandal. When asked if it could go into next season, Lundy said: "I can't comment on that."