We must weed out the cheats FOOTBALL chiefs who attended meetings with the Australian Crime Commission were told to leave their mobile phones at the door and were not permitted to use a pen or paper while the ACC briefed them on the scourge of performance enhancers in their sports. Since then, the circus that has unfolded at Essendon and Cronulla suggests a complete lack of due and proper process, a total absence of natural justice and an investigation that makes keystone cops look like CSI. Let's get one thing very clear here: there has not been one single positive drug test in either code. While it is becoming clear that a handful of footballers have abused performance-enhancing drugs, the shambolic nature of the investigation means that the few genuinely guilty players are likely to worm their way out of prosecution. The absurd threat of legal action against any football boss or politician who dares to divulge the nature of the ACC meetings means that athletes, fans and stakeholders are left in a dark hole by their footy code. It is left to the media to dissect scraps of information that come their way, with the result being that not a single soul is in possession of the real truth or the extent of what either club is actually dealing with here. While drug testing officials staged a dramatic swoop on the Cronulla football club this week, they did so under instructions from the ACC to bring home scalps. Cronulla, in the ridiculous absence of a chief executive or chairman, hired a former ASADA lawyer to offer players advice that they enter early guilty pleas. In return for a six-month suspension, the club would avoid litigation from the players and the footballers would keep their jobs. Plead not guilty, however, and face a two-year ban with no pay. In what can only be described as a denial of natural justice, no player was provided with an ounce of evidence, a legal file of facts or a lawyer. They were told they might have taken illegal performance enhancers in 2011, but that they might not have, too. The bone was pointed at a former fitness co-ordinator and, not surprisingly, a trio of players knocked on his door to ask if what they had been told was true. These players are so bamboozled by events of recent days that they had nowhere else to turn. It's crazy stuff and completely at odds with the notion of proper process. They all relied on their managers and their own nous to say no and have so far refused to capitulate to these absurd offers. The club has now hired an expensive spin doctor to handle the public relations disaster brewing in the Sutherland shire. Instead of heading straight across Tom Uglys Bridge and into NRL headquarters, Cronulla appears to be perpetuate the shambles by putting another coat of paint on the problem. While new NRL boss Dave Smith waits obediently for directives from the ACC and ASADA, he has been advised to keep his mouth shut by a team of internal advisers running scared from rampant threats of legal action from the ACC. It is now Smith's time to throw caution to the wind and speak out in support of his code and its integrity. He made it clear to me on Thursday night he wants drug cheats out of the game and that there is no doubt a rogue element exists within the code. But he is obviously shaken and deeply disturbed by the broad brushstrokes being applied to every single one of his athletes. Instead of sitting silently and copping all of this nonsense, Dave Smith must defy the advice and speak. If it means hiring the best lawyer in the land to protect his right to free speech, so be it. The ACC has done the AFL and the NRL a great disservice with its conduct of an investigation that is so full of holes it beggars belief. They have left little doubt that the federal government is in this up to its eyeballs. Smith spent an hour with Prime Minister Julia Gillard earlier this week. He is not talking about the conversation but he made it clear he is furious with her government and the shambolic way they have handled the crisis. The complete rabble that has evolved from a mishandled string of events has left many feeling that heads at the top of the ACC and government must roll. By all means, weed out the cheats. But do it with transparency, fair play and a proper legal investigation that offers the basic presumption of innocence. In a normal world, fundamental principles of democracy and justice would prevail. We are fast learning, though, that not one bit of this is anywhere close to normal. Chooks shortage The Sydney Roosters have the lowest membership levels in the NRL with only 5000 signed up to the club. The crowd at Thursday night's season opener was around 35,000 but would have been close to a sellout if the Roosters had used up their seat allocation of around 11,000. Not quite half of those seats were filled, which shows that the inner city club has a serious issue with its marketing. It is apparent that even with the addition of Sonny Bill Williams, the Roosters are still not targeting a big enough bite of the inner city league market. They have a head office with little idea on how to put bums on seats. Support's just swell Just up the road from the struggling Roosters is the home of the Sydney Swans at the SCG. Now, here is a club that knows how to do business. The AFL premiers will hold their annual fan day at the SCG tomorrow and expect to attract tens of thousands. Memberships are soaring off the back of the grand final win and the same punters who turn their back on the Roosters are lining up to be part of the Swans experience. I'm in Wanderland For the first time in the A-League's life, I am jumping on a bandwagon. The infectious enthusiasm of the Western Sydney Wanderers has seen me quietly using the remote to switch on to this fantastic team. I love the strip, the fans and the way this lot play. May they prosper for many years in the city's west.