Seven AFL clubs and six NRL clubs have been identified in a confidential briefing by the ACC as being vulnerable to illicit drugs. The AFL has moved swiftly this week to pass on the ACC information, all 18 clubs in the competition have been summoned to AFL headquarters for individual briefings. AFL CEO Demetriou, said he was in favour of transparency over the issue, but will leave it up to the clubs to decide whether they will come out publicly and admit they were named or not.
The Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) revealed that only laboratories in Cologne, Germany, and Montreal, Canada have the capability of testing for performance-enhancing peptides. The AFL has been advised that the samples from players may disintegrate while in transit and as a result ASADA and the AFL are unlikely to send Essendon players’ samples overseas for testing.
James Hird, club legend and coach of the embattled Essendon football club, is now in the firing line after he declared he was responsible for the football department’s goings-on, especially after the AFL’s deputy chief executive Gillon McLachlan said that Essendon stood accused of doping their players ”without their knowledge or consent”.

Earlier Hird said that Essendon would fight to prove its innocence, but as the situation went from bad to worse during the week, he changed his tune. Hird was no longer sure of what took place, despite reports that he allegedly stood alongside his players as they signed consent forms accepting they were taking substance injections.

Hird was also exposed for having consorted with suspect substance providers as facts came to light, that he and the Bombers president David Evans attended a presentation in Melbourne on the peptide AOD-9604 before the beginning of last year, with a view to investing in the drug manufacturer’s business, Metabolic Pharmaceuticals. The company has spent millions of dollars in developing AOD-9604 and is currently available internationally on the internet black market to bodybuilders, weight-loss clinics, sport organisations and individuals, but has not yet undergone the scientific trials to gain the approval of the Therapeutic Goods Administration.

Meanwhile, the National Rugby League (NRL) CEO David Smith, informed the six clubs (Manly, Cronulla, Newcastle, Canberra, North Queensland and Penrith) that they are under investigation. Some clubs have also been accused of suspected match fixing and are being investigated. In 2010, an NRL match fixing investigation was conducted into the game between Canterbury and North Queensland following an unusual betting plunge on the game’s ‘first score’ which as a result led to the conviction of Bulldogs player, Ryan Tandy.

ASADA, which has had its resources doubled by the Federal Government will interview about 150 players, support staff and
administrators from two major sporting codes over the next few months. But the 150 number is somewhat a guestimate by ASADA, but under their code of conduct, the integrity of the investigation and the privacy of any individual under investigation will be protected while the guilty parties remain unidentified.

In response to assisting the ACC and ASADA the Federal Government has moved to waive confidentiality contracts signed by AFL and NRL administrators, encouraging clubs and individuals to come forward with any evidence to help with inquiries.