Sydney Roosters chairman Nick Politis has defended his handling of the Victor Radley scandal, insisting that the club imposed the harshest punishment legally available to them.
Earlier this year, Politis had declared that any player caught using cocaine would immediately be sacked by the club.
However, when speaking to News Corp after the sanctions had come down on Radley, Politis revealed that termination was not legally possible.
"I think if the grounds were there for us to rip up his contract, we would have," he said.
"He wasn’t charged with anything, so there were no grounds to terminate his contract.
"Could we have gone down the path of sacking him for bringing the club into disrepute? Maybe, but we would have left ourselves open to a wrongful dismissal [case]."
Instead, the Roosters handed Radley a 10-game suspension without pay and a $30,000 fine, to be donated to St Vincent’s Hospital for cancer research.
The penalty is the largest in the club's history, and Politis argued that it demonstrated a genuine zero tolerance stance.
"If you look at the definition of zero tolerance, it’s the harshest punishment you can impose on a person that is available to you," he said.
"I can’t remember the last time anyone has ever been suspended without pay.
"Players have tested positive for drugs and have got minimal suspension and still got paid."
Radley, 27, accepted the sanctions and apologised, pledging to win back trust after leaked messages linked him to alleged drug use.
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Speculation had swirled that his Roosters career was finished, with reports even pointing to a potential move to England.
Instead, Radley will remain in Bondi - with Politis adamant that the club's actions sufficiently uphold the zero tolerance promise by delivering the harshest sanction possible.