Long lunch ended in drug bust at Sydney Hotel for Sharks chairman Damian Keogh

EXCLUSIVE: CRONULLA Sharks chairman Damian Keogh was having drinks with friends at pub in Woolloomooloo when police with sniffer dogs allegedly spotted him acting suspiciously.

Secret NRL chairmen meeting at KPMG, Darling Harbour. Cronulla's Damien Keogh.

IT had been a long day for Cronulla Sharks chairman Damian Keogh on his favourite restaurant strip.

Just hours before standing down from the NRL club on Friday night, Keogh had lunch with three acquaintances at a Kingsleys Australian Steakhouse on the Woolloomooloo Wharf frequented by Sydney’s rich and famous.

As CEO of cinema company Hoyts and a multi-millionaire, he often dined there with his business connections.

Damien Keogh has been credited with saving the Sharks from near bankruptcy.

On Friday evening he chose to have more drinks at the nearby Tilbury Hotel and then the Bells Hotel.

Shortly before 8pm five police officers did a routine walk through the pub with drug dogs. Keogh, according to police sources, was spotted acting suspiciously.

He was searched and officers allegedly found a small plastic resealable bag of a substance believed to be cocaine.

He was charged with possessing a prohibited drug and issued with a future court ­attendance notice to appear at Downing Centre Local Court in June.

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Later that night, Keogh ­informed Cronulla Sharks ­directors he would stand down immediately. He said yesterday he could not comment “for legal reasons”.

Keogh is credited with saving the Sharks from near bankruptcy three years ago, fighting back to win last year’s NRL premiership. To ease the club’s cash flow problems he even tipped in $1.5 million of his own money.

Lyall Gorman addresses the media following news of Damian Keogh’s drugs charge.

He is highly respected across the game and was recently ­appointed by the Sydney clubs to head negotiations with out-of-town clubs to get a ­united position on future funding from the NRL.

Keogh is a father of four and had to break the news to his family on Saturday. He likes a good time and plays in a band Shake N Bake at venues in the Sutherland Shire.

NRL CEO Todd Greenberg said he was disappointed because “he’s done such a good job for the club”. He denied there was a widespread ­cocaine problem in the game.

“All of society is involved in a battle with illicit drugs,” Greenberg said. “We’ve done a huge amount of work across drug education. I don’t subscribe to talk there is a huge problem in rugby league.”

Sharks CEO Lyall Gorman said: “It’s a very disappointing day for our club. It’s one we’re trying to work through as a club and right now we’re giving Damian the time to ­address the allegations.”