Titans players to plead not-guilty
He was banned for six weeks and fined Aus$30,000 (US$23,500) by the Queensland Reds.
SYDNEY (AFP) - Gold Coast Titans Greg Bird and Dave Taylor are pleading not guilty to drugs charges which have rocked the National Rugby League club, reports said Monday.
Test and State of Origin forwards Bird and Taylor were stood down last month, along with fellow Titans Jamie Dowling, Beau Falloon and Kalifa Faifai Loa, over the cocaine controversy.
Bird, Taylor and Loa attended Southport Magistrates Court on Monday, and all three indicated they would plead not guilty to various charges of possessing and supplying cocaine, Australian Associated Press reported.
Dowling and Falloon last week had their cases adjourned until May 8.
"As we ve always said since the beginning, the evidence against them seems to be very flimsy, or a bit speculative, so on that basis they should be allowed to play," lawyer Campbell MacCallum said.
The players were charged after a Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission (QCCC) investigation into a drug trafficking syndicate in the southeast of the state.
Former rugby league international Karmichael Hunt, who joined Super Rugby s Queensland Reds this year, last week pleaded guilty to four charges of cocaine possession.
He was banned for six weeks and fined Aus$30,000 (US$23,500) by the Queensland Reds, and was ordered to pay Aus$2,500 by magistrates on Queensland s Gold Coast.
