NEWCASTLE Knights management deny their club have a drugs culture.
And in the next week or two they have the ideal chance to prove it.
If the Knights want people to accept their "anywhere, any time" drug-testing policy is not just an idle threat or public-relations exercise, then why not target Mad Monday and the post-season wake that follows?
Players have volunteered to be tested 365 days of the year.
The Knights play their last match of a disappointing season against Melbourne at AAMI Stadium tomorrow.
No sooner will they have returned to Williamtown Airport than players will be looking to quench their thirst.
It shapes as a marathon session. And while Mad Monday has long been regarded as a harmless tradition at which players let down their hair after a long, hard season, allegations surrounding last year's festivities have left the club nursing a lingering hangover.
According to police evidence tendered in Newcastle Local Court, former Knights forward Danny Wicks purchased 30 ecstasy tablets just hours after his team were knocked out of last year's NRL finals.
Police said that earlier in the night Wicks told another alleged drug dealer, "You've let me down, I've got 20 blokes waiting."
Wicks and another ex-Knight, Chris Houston, both resigned from the club after being arrested and charged with drug possession and supply.
Neither have entered a plea in their respective court cases. The police charges are yet to be proven.
But the whole episode hangs over the Knights like a dark shadow.
Despite Newcastle officials declaring that they drug-test their players more stringently than any other NRL club, the general public can only take their word on that.
Unless we see some evidence.
There could be no more comprehensive statement from the club than for the drug-testers to converge on their squad about 5pm on Monday and take samples from every player.
Then first thing Tuesday morning round them up again and go through the same process.
Just to be on the safe side, bring in the drug-testers for a blanket swabbing on Saturday or Sunday morning next weekend.
And the weekends after that, and after that.
If that sounds Draconian, then just consider that last year, during the off-season, the Knights did not drug-test players between September 12 and November 3.
That period included their traditional Mad Monday celebrations on September 14.
There was a window of opportunity.
Remember, too, that for a decade Newcastle's greatest player, Andrew Johns, brazenly "ran the gauntlet", to use his words, by dabbling in recreational drugs and apparently never returned a positive swab.
As Johns and AFL star Ben Cousins have shown, random drug-testing is no major deterrent for players willing to take a risk.
Mass testing, however, sends a blunt message.
And if the players have nothing to hide, they should embrace the chance to proclaim their innocence.
Test them all. Invite the media to get pictures and TV footage of players queueing to face the men from ASADA.
And in the process reassure fans and the general public that the lessons of last year have been well and truly learned.
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