AFL releases full documents detailing Bombers charge

The allegation that Hird was warned has been denied.

I didn't read it that he was trying to get Corcoran to help convince Reid to allow certain supplements to be used. I thought it was more Reid had stopped the whole program and Hird wanted to make use of Corcoran's diplomatic skills..... he said United Nations skills but I think he meant diplomacy and compromise.

Surely the WHATEVERITTAKES tag was a bit of a give away. They are still posing in front of the phrase. It looks like they would have started genetic experiments on the players if they thought they could get away with it and they could have found the appropriate Barossa Valley ex camp doctor.

Unchecked in the sense that the other clubs, if they were injecting players, were not breaking any rules and the AFL doesn't seem to have made any public and consistent ruling on the matter. And to me that may be the heart of the problem here. Cast your mind back a year or so when this story broke and we were told how rife drugs were in the NRL and AFL. Here is a link to an article that gives a flavour on what was being touted. http://www.dailyliberal.com.au/story/1292036/seven-clubs-vulnerable-on-drugs/ . I can remember thinking at the time based on media reports that lots of clubs were going to go down for taking banned performance enhancing drugs or for allowing a culture to flourish where illegal drugs were being used by players aka Ben Cousins. It makes sense that the AFL got ASADA to investigate the matter but I can't help thinking that ASADA bit off a bit more than they could chew. Maybe they were trying to make a name for themselves over this high profile investigation. After the initial flurry, what have they ended up with? One club pinged for bad housekeeping. No players have been charged for taking banned or illegal drugs. Here is another article that again gives the flavour of the kind of thing being reported about drugs in the AFL back in the day http://www.northerndailyleader.com.au/story/1429527/ex-afl-player-spruiked-peptides/ . Do we really believe that after all the initial fanfare there are no players in the AFL taking illegal drugs? Apparently ASADA didn't find any evidence of such activity. Personally I find that a bit hard to believe. Where there is smoke there is usually fire! Was it that no such activity was found or that there was a carefully orchestrated plan on how best to play this fiasco out in the public with Essendon being made the scapegoat? Maybe a bit of face saving for ASADA after the initial big claims they made. Okay, this probably sounds a bit conspiratorial but these are not hard inferences to draw. If it became apparent during the investigation to ASADA and the AFL that several clubs were engaging in supplement programs that while not outside the rules, needed to be discouraged, then from where I sit, a better way to have approached this would have been to sideline ASADA and work with the clubs in a way suggested in previous posts ie. set up rules and guidelines that were consistent for all clubs. I'll say it again. In this context, giving add hoc warnings to clubs operating in the competitive environment when they are not breaking any of the rules and they believe other clubs are doing the same just won't work. If the AFL wants to steer clubs well away from this kind of thing they need to set up clear and sensible boundaries. Here is one suggestion - ban clubs from administering anything by injection that they believe will benefit or enhance a players performance - banned or otherwise.

Well, as a universally lauded doctor who seems to be treating every child in the world, you'd reckon he might put his principles above Hirdy's ego. He should have resigned last year I think and I'm betting, right about now, he wished he did. If he did then his reputation could have saved him, now I'm not so sure.

"Belief" has been a very powerful factor in this series of unfortunate events. I haven't read that Hird thought it was happening unchecked but that he "suspected" it was happening at a couple of other clubs (think WCE & Collingwood were cited) and that his belief was based on what Dank and Chartres told him, however this is based on what Dean Robinson claimed ie not reliable. But Derek, are you serious? Heed numerous warnings including your own club doctor in the "belief" that other clubs were doing it? All that risk and danger?

Penster, again I'd suggest consider the context of Hird's actions. He thought it was happening unchecked in other clubs, albeit in a properly managed way, so why shouldn't Essendon follow suit and try to beat them at their own game? Why should he heed the warnings if other clubs were getting away with it?

Sorry that should read the club doctor raised concerns.

Please Derek, Essendon received sufficient warning from the AFL and chose to ignore it. The club doctor ignored it and he was side stepped. Dank's history and Robinson's track record should have been scrutinised (reference to Essendon's lack of standard HR practices. At a guess independent reference checks were not undertaken, job descriptions with clear reporting lines via and org chart). The AFL did quite a bit to keep Essendon in check (although not the governance but surely that's the responsibility of the board???), they're the governing body not babysitters and Essendon are a rich and well resourced club. In regards to Hird believing the practice is widespread - I wouldn't believe a thing that man says on this issue. Sounds like Dank & Chartres got him a beauty.

Jobe could have stood up to them with Tim for backup, credible with the Essendon faithful, both leaders etc. But if the club doctor himself didn't know how legal the drug was and it's not clear cut even now, what hope did the players have of understanding the science and legality? These blokes are conditioned (pardon the pun) to play footy, be team players, do what they're told.

I'd like to know how much truth there is in Hird's comments that other clubs were further ahead than Essendon in injecting supplements. To what extent have these other clubs been investigated? If the only difference between Essendon's supplement program and that of other clubs is the way it was managed then that makes me cynical of this whole fiasco. What if Essendon had kept their paper work and housekeeping in order, would their supplements program have been okay? The AFL's biggest concern in this matter is evidently that the 'name of the sport has fallen into disrepute'. I'd suggest that the public by and large would fail to see in principle a lot of difference between injecting players with banned substances that would boost performance and injecting players with unbanned substances that were hoped to boost performance. That is certainly how I see it! If this practice is widespread among the clubs then the charges against Essendon and the adversarial and legalistic approach taken by the AFL don't sit well with me. If that is the case and the AFL deems it to be okay then why the big fuss? Okay, Essendon may have failed in some of the house keeping and could have managed the program a bit better but you have to wonder how some of the other clubs would stack up if measured against the same yardstick used for Essendon! If the practice is widespread as suggested by Hird, then perhaps 'the name of the game being bought into disrepute' is more about the AFL not stepping in earlier to provide better controls on clubs injecting players with supplements. Allowing it to flourish would naturally lead to the kind of fiasco that has rocked the Essendon club. Reading around, it has become clear that the benefits of AOD-9604 are at best dubious and that there has been a lot of confusion about the legalities of the supplement. Think about the hassle and wasted effort for such little gain and such a negative outcome. If the AFL can take one thing away from this mess it should be that allowing clubs to experiment with injecting players with any chemical, banned or unbanned that they hope will improve performance is a dead end road that should be discouraged. If this practice is as widespread as Hird suggests then the AFL should take a least some of the rap for not dealing with it earlier and more decisively. I wonder was this what triggered the public concern about the widespread 'use of drugs' in football in the first place that prompted the ASADA investigation? Is Essendon being made the scapegoat?

Having read the AFL charge sheet, Paul Little's reduction of the matter to governance issues which the Club has addressed is gobsmacking.

I feel for the players, who are the ultimate victims of this disgraceful saga. It would be difficult to go against the club culture of trusting in the hierarchy, but I can't help wondering why the stronger characters, particularly the more senior players, never seemed to have questioned this extraordinary injecting regime.

I'd like to know the same. RedB, RedB,RedB, RedB! And who was the other guy adamant that they'd been set up? Reveal his name do we can shame him. We await their words of wisdom. I expect something along the lines of; "our poor Aussie boys, led astray by a mad, rogue, out of control scientist. Then poor Jimmy Hird had his phone stolen by Carolyn Wilson who then sent incriminating sms's"

The media apparently should have been charged with "bringing the game into disrepute" and the club was only a victim of a "rogue" scientist. Is that correct RedB? :)

"AFL chairman Mike Fitzpatrick will brief the presidents of all 18 clubs at the meeting, at AFL House at 3pm (AEST)." Anyone think that Fitzpatrick will be briefing the presidents on perhaps a vote in which Essendon will be allowed to play in the finals this year but play for no points in 2014?

+1. it's the media's fault according to Bombers fans. looking forward to reading more from this report.

Didn't Robinson place some bets on games previously? I think he got suspended for 16 matches or something.

26000 injections!!! Shocking and staggering Mr HIrd, but of course you wouldn't have known anything about it.

I expect you're right., Ian. And, thinking about it, his loyalty as a doctor should've been to the players first and foremost, no mater how long he'd been at the club. But all the same it's very, very tough.