I always had ASADA's consent: Dank Stephen Dank: Intimate knowledge of drugs code. Sports scientist Stephen Dank says he never administered a single product or substance to any athlete without the prior consent of ASADA or WADA. The Australian biochemist has worked with NRL and AFL clubs for two decades in a number of capacities, including high-performance consultation, technical analysis and the provision of supplement programs. Dank's tenure at Cronulla, Manly and Essendon has come under particular scrutiny, and those clubs were named in the Australian Crime Commission's report into doping and the integrity of sport. However, Dank said the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority had approved all of his products and methods, and he had never gone outside those boundaries. "Before I've done anything in any forum, we have always had conversations with WADA [the World Anti-Doping Agency] or ASADA - or in some cases both," Dank told Fairfax Media. From that point of view, they were always well informed of anything we were about to use. Nothing was ever used without asking them first and, in some cases, both parties were asked. Never once was anything indicated to me that we would have issues in terms of anything we used. ASADA is in the process of interviewing 31 NRL players of interest as part of their investigations. Up to 14 Cronulla players are expected to be involved in the process, which is expected to take six weeks. While Dank's time at the Sharks is under scrutiny, he has long maintained that he has never administered illegal performance-enhancing substances. Lawyers acting for Dank recently launched the first of a series of defamation actions over what he believes are false doping allegations. Dank has always been fiercely protective of his intellectual property, but felt the need to cover his methods with WADA or ASADA. "It was always a continuing process," he said. The only exception was if I had something approved in a particular class, sometimes based on the clearance of a particular product. I didn't have to go back to them on every single product within that class. Sometimes we spoke directly about the class, and at other times directly about the substance. Obviously I've always had a deep, intimate knowledge of both the WADA Code and also the ASADA Act. The WADA prohibitive list as it governs what substances can be used, the WADA code in terms of how it conducts its business and the ASADA Act in terms of how it has to conduct its business. As yet, no Cronulla players have been interviewed by ASADA amid fears the investigation could overshadow the Origin series and potentially even the NRL play-offs. Coach Shane Flanagan said the ongoing cloud over the club had adversely affected the players, most notably in their upset loss to Parramatta on Saturday night. Australian Rugby League Commission chief executive Dave Smith has also outlined contingency plans should a team have a number of players stood down for doping offences. One of the options is an internal draft, with each club required to make available players ranked 16 to 25 from their top squad. Fairfax Media revealed that the NRL faced the prospect of players being stood down on a daily or weekly basis if ASADA uncovered enough evidence of players taking performance- enhancing drugs.