While the bans of Sharks captain Paul Gallen and nine other current NRL players expire on November 23 - they missed only missed three rounds of the competition except in the case of Cowboys winger Matthew Wright who also sacrificed the finals - the forgotten trio may feel the full brunt of the doping watchdog's artillery.

As sidelined head coach Shane Flanagan on Wednesday had his return to the game delayed in an announcement made by NRL chief executive Dave Smith, the futures of former Sharks John Williams, Stuart Flanagan and Paul Aiton are up in the air.

The coach is tipped to be given the green light to resume coaching at Remondis Stadium within weeks and while the banned players still in the NRL will be cleared to begin off-season preparations with their clubs in two months there is an apparent double standard with the treatment of others. Two players, the retired Colin Best and Catalan Dragons centre Ben Pomeroy, are understood to have rejected the offer made to most of the 17 current and former Sharks when show-cause notices began to be issued on August 20.

The so-called deal allowed players to accept a backdated one-year suspension if they admitted inadvertently  taking prohibited peptides during the supplements program run at the club in 2011 by sports scientist Stephen Dank. However, Fairfax Media understands Williams, Stuart Flanagan and Aiton have been left out in the cold with no such deal forthcoming for them. All players had to have submitted responses to show-cause notices by last week's deadline and the trio faces continued uncertainty in the coming weeks.

All three are no longer playing in the NRL but lengthy bans would leave more than just stains on their names. Williams, the brother of Manly winger David, is an assistant coach with the Sydney Roosters' under-20s team and he would be barred from that job for the course of any doping sanction.  Flanagan, also retired from the top grade, is keen to continue playing for Group 6 team Appin Dogs next year and Aiton is still playing professionally in the Super League with Leeds.

Four weeks after the wave of show-cause notices were issued to most of the players in lawyers' offices in Sydney and elsewhere it is unclear whether former Sharks hooker Aiton has even received a notice.

There has been speculation about the reasons for the delays in ASADA delivering notices to some players, with suggestions they were a result of difficulty in locating addresses for some no longer in the NRL. It is easy to make a mockery of that argument in the case of Williams, who not only works at the Roosters - whose office shares a car park with League Central - but does community work for the NRL. He is understood to have  only received his show-cause notice this month.

It is unclear why the three ex-Sharks have not been offered backdated suspensions like the bulk of their former teammates.

The players now face the likelihood of being entered into the Register of Findings and dealt with by tribunals governing their competitions at the instruction of ASADA. "ASADA has a number of ongoing matters involving Cronulla Sharks players from 2011. Ultimately, if violations are proven, the NRL will determine sanctions based on an individual athlete's circumstances," a spokesperson said.

Shane Flanagan, meanwhile, had his bid to have his own NRL-imposed suspension lifted rejected, although it is expected that decision could be soon revisited, leaving him free to begin off-season preparations as early as next month. Smith indicated Flanagan was not quite across the line in convincing the NRL he was fit to return after undertaking educational courses since being sidelined.

"He's understandably disappointed, we're encouraging him to keep at the progress we think he's made," Smith said. "It's still an indefinite ban until he meets the conditions, he's well on track to meeting those conditions but he's got a bit further to go. If he doesn't meet the conditions, he will not be re-registered. I think he's on the right track but the conditions are the conditions."

with Adrian Proszenko