Trent Elkin has branded his former club Cronulla as weak for making him the scapegoat for the supplements scandal and claims he was not responsible for introducing controversial sports scientist Stephen Dank to the club in 2011.

After appealing successfully last month against an indefinite ban from the game, the suspended strength and conditioning coach today breaks an 18-month silence to detail for the first time his version of what happened at Cronulla during Dank’s 11-week tenure.

In a series of interviews with Fairfax Media, Elkin claims: 

•  Shane Flanagan was aware of some of Dank’s practices at the club, including the injection of players, and in 2013 told Elkin at Elkin’s house after news of the ASADA investigation emerged: ‘‘The only thing we’re guilty of is trusting Dank’’;
• He was not aware the players were allegedly taking the banned substances GHRP-6 and CJC-1295 until it was suggested during interviews by ASADA;
• Nobody at ASADA has provided him with proof these were the substances players had allegedly taken, and that reports the players were taking ‘‘horse drugs’’ and Warfarin were ‘‘ridiculous’’;
• That a fellow staff member told him in 2012 some players had continued to consult with Dank and his offsider Darren Hibbert after the club had stopped using Dank’s services;
• That he contacted the NRL to provide his version of events the day after the infamous February7, 2013, press conference,  only to be told by the NRL that they didn’t have anything set up to deal with these issues. No official bothered to call him back until he was requested to attend an interview in November 2013.

Elkin’s version of events is in stark contrast to many at Cronulla, who have painted him, publicly and in interviews with the NRL, as the man central to allowing Dank to work at the club.

Dank has denied any wrongdoing and says that the substances used at Cronulla were not prohibited.

‘‘There are others who knew it was happening,’’ Elkin told Fairfax Media. ‘‘They have said, ‘Elkin and Dank are the only ones who knew what was going on, so they are responsible’. That’s what hurts. Those people I considered friends. Some have been dishonest. I am so disappointed. Maybe I’d be in a better position today if I was dishonest and not forthcoming.

‘‘I have all their statements, I have read them many times because that’s only what the NRL based their findings on; interviews from five staff from the 2011 season, with three of them still working at the club. All five staff interviewed clearly state in their interviews that Elk would never do anything wrong by the players or do anything to hurt the players. They know my character.’’

Asked if he felt like a scapegoat, Elkin said: ‘‘100 per cent I do. It’s so disappointing.’’

Flanagan has long denied any wrongdoing. His 12-month ban ends on September 17. He signed a three-year contract extension in April until the end of 2017.

Elkin last month had his appeal into an indefinite cancellation upheld by an independent appeals tribunal. The proceedings of that appeal remain confidential.

Told of Elkin’s claim that Flanagan approved the use of the substances, Flanagan said: ‘‘That’s a lie, mate. That’s a lie. He never sought approval off anyone. Me or anyone. He did it himself, mate. He didn’t tell me or the doctor about it. He told the players.’’

Flanagan also denies Elkin’s version of their conversation in 2013 at Elkin’s home. ‘‘No, I said the only thing I’m guilty of is trusting Trent Elkin,’’ he said. ‘‘And Dank. I went to his house to make sure what he told me was the truth. And he told me that it was the truth. I trusted Trent Elkin. If Trent’s guilty of trusting Dank, that’s part of it, I suppose.’’