Former Cronulla trainer Trent Elkin will return to an NRL club for the first time since the Sharks’ supplement scandal after being employed by Parramatta.
Elkin, who had his registration provisionally cancelled in late 2013 before winning an appeal, will be coach Brad Arthur’s lead strength and conditioning coach in 2020.
The trainer had been at the Eels at the time of his ban originally being handed down by the NRL, after moving to the club following a 10-year stint with the Sharks at the start of 2013.
He has long maintained his innocence in the ordeal and denied he introduced Cronulla to Stephen Dank, but has not been signed by any club since.
“Trent has previously worked with the Bulldogs, Eels and Sharks before being banned from NRL in 2013,” Parramatta said in a statement.
“However the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) cleared Trent of all charges and he is a welcomed addition to the Eels Athletic Performance Department.”
In the time since, Elkin has returned to teaching in NSW since the Sharks’ scandal. He was also involved in preparing Valentine Holmes for his shot at an NFL contract.
The news comes as the ASADA scandal has returned to the headlines this week, after retired Sharks captain Paul Gallen went into detail about it in his new book.
“It was the hardest time ever. I won’t go into it too much but what I saw players go through, we’re extremely lucky that no one harmed themselves,” Gallen said.
“Were extremely lucky. It was a terrible time for everyone.
“There’s people out there who will call me a drug cheat, but for a bloke who worked as hard as I did for that long, that’s not nice.
“It is what it is. I’ve faced the fact, I’ve copped that. People have their opinion and I’m not going to change it.”