ASADA has employed former NRL players to educate teams in a bid to strengthen the organisation's relationship with the athletes they test.
NRL journeyman and fan favourite Sam Tagataese joins fellow retiree and former England international Chris Heighington in working with the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority.
The pair, alongside former Queensland Cup star Luke Archer, are being trained at ASADA's Canberra headquarters in awareness programs which they'll teach throughout the country.
ASADA boss David Sharpe wants to rid the agency's image as enforcement officers to athletes following doping scandals at Essendon and Cronulla.
He admits there is work to do be done among his staff, especially drug testers, to better interact with athletes, but is also trying a new approach.
ASADA is moving away from its own officers running anti-doping education programs and has instead turned to former athletes.
Mr Sharp has engaged with 16 current and former Olympians or Australian representatives to better understand the "pressures, temptations and challenges" athletes face.
But ASADA wants to spread their message beyond elite athletes, especially to the semi-professional level where Mr Sharpe says they're more likely to dope and not realise because one in five supplements on the shelf are tainted.
"We've just engaged work with the NRL with three former players to come in, then they'll go back to the NRL with our message and embedded it in their messaging and push it out," Mr Sharpe told AAP.
"Sam, Chris and Luke are being trained as clean sport educators. They are delivering education to that sub-elite level in particular, to help reduce the risk and protect those athletes.
"The NRL includes approximately 600 athletes, but if you look at the number of athletes at that second tier down, we have tripled the reach of anti-doping education beyond the professional level."
Australian Associated Press
