Stuart O’Grady, Lance Armstrong and Aaron Hernandez have recently applied for the vacant assistant coach position at the Bombers, citing they were all ‘highly qualified’ for the job. – In an alternate universe, that wouldn’t be too far off.

The AFL was handed the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority’s (ASADA) interim report into alleged doping at the Essendon Football Club last Friday with the Essendon board receiving it Sunday and has already broken its containment barrier and leaking like a sieve.
The 400 page long report, references more than 13,000 supporting documents. AFL deputy chief executive Gillon McLachlan said the league was hoping to resolve the investigation into Essendon before the finals. AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou has also read the report and said that the AFL’s general counsel and head of integrity Andrew Dillon will consider the report and advise the AFL accordingly.
Speaking at Melbourne airport after arriving from his equalisation fact-finding mission to the United States, Demetriou also addressed claims by TV commentator and former Essendon star player Tim Watson that the AFL was “conditoning” the public by deliberately leaking information about the Bombers losing premiership points over the supplements issue as, “offensive and completely wrong”.
According to informed sources, the confidential ASADA report on Essendon’s 2012 supplements program alleges that players were given banned substances because the Essendon administration trusted in sports scientist Stephen Dank’s assurances that the supplement program was above board to the stage where Essendon medical staff even failed to keep basic records about what drugs were given to specific players.
The report, places blame on the club’s coaching and management staff for failing to ensure players were not exposed to health and doping risks, with Hird as one of several officials identified as having failed to ensure proper practice and exposing players to an unsafe workplace.
ASADA has also found that Essendon staff failed to implement basic governance, management and medical practices raising serious questions regarding the potential breach of contractual, legal and occupational health and safety obligations to their players.
While coach James Hird’s legal team has received a copy of the ASADA report (why does that not fail to surprise) late on Tuesday, lawyers representing the club’s assistant coaches and staff were still fighting for the right to read the report, concerned that Hird’s team had been given preferential treatment by the club’s board.
Even Essendon players at the center of the issue have not yet been briefed on the ASADA report despite determined efforts by the AFL Players Association (AFLPA) to view the confidential document. AFLPA chief Matt Finnis has criticised the Bombers administration for narrowing their defence to the legality of drugs given to their footballers and did not include the crucial issue of the players’ welfare.
The concern at the Essendon Football Club is that private medical details revealed under questioning by players, coaches and staff would become public knowledge if information got out – At least six Essendon coaches and staff members, along with the head coach, have admitted to being injected by Stephen Dank. Of those staff still at the club, the roles played by coach James Hird, football operations manager Danny Corcoran and club doctor Bruce Reid have come under intense scrutiny by ASADA.
Strong circumstantial evidence indicates that the performance enhancing drug Thymosin Beta 4 was given to several Essendon players. The report also confirms the WADA banned anti-obesity drug AOD9604 not approved for human use, was administered to players at the club last year under the direction of sports scientist Stephen Dank.
The AFL is currently contemplating whether to punish the club and/or its officials, including coach James Hird, under the AFL’s own rules on exposing players to risky practices and bringing the game into disrepute. Punishment could include the loss of premiership points or the suspension of staff and a number of players.
If fifth placed Essendon had significant premiership points deducted, it could remove the Bombers from the top eight and have serious ramifications for the AFL finals commencing in four weeks time.
Whatever the punishment the AFL must be swift and decisive in putting this issue to bed.