THE drug and corruption scandal enveloping Australian sport has snared six National Rugby League clubs, with the revelation they are named in the Australian Crime Commission's explosive report.

Facing a backlash over the refusal to name implicated clubs and players, ACC chief executive John Lawler said he was working with the individual codes to work out if there was a way for full disclosure to take place.

But Mr Lawler told The Sunday Telegraph the release of club names would have to be within the law, which states there cannot be any adverse impact on a club or individual. While the codes were aware of the clubs involved, they were under strict legal obligations not to release the names publicly, he said.

He said there may be some scope for self-disclosure.

"I will work with the clubs over the weekend and next week to look if there is a way for those clubs to work around those legal constraints," Mr Lawler said. "There is a long way for this to play out yet.

"I am very confident in the report's findings. This is no beat-up. We have sworn testimonies. We have corroborated evidence.

"We have quite a significant amount of intelligence. We are very confident in the findings."

Mr Lawler said he was sympathetic to clubs and players that were in the right, but the purpose of the report was intended to be an "alert" to everyone to improve their safeguards against drug taking - a point he felt had been missed in the hunt for names.It also served as a trigger for players, coaches and individuals to come forward to police.

"This is about making sure that they are alert to the risks and vulnerabilities, and that they are actively doing something about it," he said.

"What's happened has happened. That needs to be investigated. But, more importantly, we should be trying to prevent this occurring."

"There may be players using substances or contemplating using substances that our alert will hopefully prevent. We also have criminals out there, that we know are doing this.

"We are not going to declare who they are but this is a way of putting the frighteners into them, so they are aware authorities are aware of them." Justice Minister Jason Clare said the commission had also given the names of individuals to NSW and Victorian police.

"I understand that people want the Australian Crime Commission to name names. And they have - they have given names to the police and the anti-doping authority," he said.

The Sunday Telegraph has confirmed that a major element of the ACC report is focused on a criminal network that had sought to expose players who had been supplied with banned substances.

According to sources close to the investigation, players were tricked into taking so called "supplements", only to be later told that they had in fact taken banned substances.

The players were then later called upon and threatened with being "outed" as drug cheats unless they agreed to fix matches or pay money. According to sources, several players had fallen victim to the bribery racket and were mostly confined to the NRL and not other codes.