Dosier reveals full drugs program at Essendon

SOME Essendon players were prescribed weekly injections of the banned anti-obesity drug AOD-9604 for all of last season.

The Herald Sun can also reveal they were regularly injected with thymosin, another substance banned by the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority.

The Herald Sun has seen documents handed to ASADA that reveal Essendon's drugs program.

And so it begins

Injecting young men weekly with substances that have not been independently analysed.

Absolutely disgusting. Poor players.

Why do I get the feeling Dank is leaking to the ABC whilst Essendon are leaking to the heraldsun. For that matter our side in all this is spelt out in the age.

Wouldn't it be nice if Trengove destroys his tube of cream and denies he ever used it and the rest of the Melbourne players got nothing dodgy.

I feel sorry for essendon almost. So far it appears they've official drug cheated and endangered their players well being all without actually knowing they did it.

Essendon are absolutely stuffed.

They are gone.

Gone.

I feel sorry for essendon almost.

Wash your mouth out.

If a player is suspended for 6 months what does this actually mean? Obviously he can't play but can he continue to train with the club?

The reason i ask is the talk is the ASADA/AFL investigation will take a few more months (read just near end of season). Lets say Essendon (and possible Trengove god forbid) players cop 6 months (which is what Dr. Peter Bruckner suggests in the Age would be the best case scenario) at the end of the 2013 season, they would be right to play at the beginning of the 2014 season.

This would save the AFL (who hand down penalties - though ASADA would have to OK them) the problem of Essendon not being able to field a team (with all the implications) and if the players could still train they would be right to go in 2014. All sounds a bit convenient i suppose but i could see it play out this way.

As for the punishment for the club, using the punishment meted out to MFC for bringing the game into disrepute you'd have to imagine Essendon will be fined several million dollars and the CEO, board, President and surely Hird (who will have been all over this, there is no way a control freak like him wouldn't have been) will be suspended.

There is no way the AFL - or ASADA for that matter - want this to go to court (for different reasons: the impact on the games image and the chaos that it would cause to fixturing, TV rights etc for the AFL and the resource drain for ASADA). The AFL could a scenario such as the one outlined above to cut a deal with the Bombers not to challenge the punishment in court. Its a horror story all round but at least some of the damage would be contained.

the real worry hear is that the MFC has admitted our players wee injected by Dank last year with 'vitamins'

chances that this Dank loser was only using vitamins are about 10,000 to 1

I think we might be in big trouble

those 6 players will sue the bejeezus out of Essendrug if this is all proven.

They are in deep trouble.

the real worry hear is that the MFC has admitted our players wee injected by Dank last year with 'vitamins'

chances that this Dank loser was only using vitamins are about 10,000 to 1

I think we might be in big trouble

Can't we show a vid of our games versus Essendon's games to show that we got the dud stuff?

the real worry hear is that the MFC has admitted our players wee injected by Dank last year with 'vitamins'

No they haven't.

Implications for us = nil. The spotlight is going to be on them rather than our on field performance, which may be a good thing.

How Vlad and the AFL manage this is where the interest lies. Cover up, roll over and slap on the wrist, or serious sanctions? Essendon are screwed. If they are not then the AFL is complicit and a farce.

If a player is suspended for 6 months what does this actually mean? Obviously he can't play but can he continue to train with the club?

The reason i ask is the talk is the ASADA/AFL investigation will take a few more months (read just near end of season). Lets say Essendon (and possible Trengove god forbid) players cop 6 months (which is what Dr. Peter Bruckner suggests in the Age would be the best case scenario) at the end of the 2013 season, they would be right to play at the beginning of the 2014 season.

This would save the AFL (who hand down penalties - though ASADA would have to OK them) the problem of Essendon not being able to field a team (with all the implications) and if the players could still train they would be right to go in 2014. All sounds a bit convenient i suppose but i could see it play out this way.

As for the punishment for the club, using the punishment meted out to MFC for bringing the game into disrepute you'd have to imagine Essendon will be fined several million dollars and the CEO, board, President and surely Hird (who will have been all over this, there is no way a control freak like him wouldn't have been) will be suspended.

There is no way the AFL - or ASADA for that matter - want this to go to court (for different reasons: the impact on the games image and the chaos that it would cause to fixturing, TV rights etc for the AFL and the resource drain for ASADA). The AFL could a scenario such as the one outlined above to cut a deal with the Bombers not to challenge the punishment in court. Its a horror story all round but at least some of the damage would be contained.

Pretty sure the suspension would be 6 months of competition not just 6 calendar months - so they would miss a whole season.

We simply don't know a great deal about the Danks/Bates involvement with Melbourne players but on what we've been led to understand to date, the only suggestion of any improper practice is that Jack Trengove was prescribed a cream containing a banned substance AOD-9604. Assuming he did buy it and used it, then he would appear to be in trouble.

Brukner, who is a medical practitioner and not a lawyer, argues in the Age article mentioned above, that none of the "outs" provided for in the rules would help the Essendon players (and by extension Trengove if he took the cream) obtain a better result than a 6 month suspension. On the other hand, a sports solicitor quoted in this Herald Sun article presents a different view based partly on a mysterious letter which Stephen Dank apparently showed Essendon club doctor Bruce Reid and Dr. Bates at Melbourne. Trouble is that only Dank has a copy and there's a fair bit of mystery about the letter including who wrote it and what it means. If the letter came from a drug company and not WADA or ASADA as claimed at various times, the lawyer's claim appears to be a weak one. However, the clauses in the WADA Code are always open to interpretation and, when the time comes, will no doubt be attacked by the lawyers for the players.

The code doesn't make it easy for players and we're told that the only athlete to evade penalty in the past has been one who was unconscious at the time of administration of the banned drug. The exception in the code doesn't provide an out where a player's "personal physician" is involved but in a club situation, the player's choice of physician is limited and if a club doctor is negligent of the victim of a possible fraudulent disclosure, the question of the player's reliance on that disclosure might come into play.

In any event, if it goes to a legal stoush, who knows how it will play out?

Hmmmm...being devils advocate here I am also suspicious about the bombers and their explanations about the letter scenario. This team wanted an edge and have come out of the blocks over the last 2 years. Call me suspicious and I am not on the poor Essendon Team.

I just don't buy Essendons story altogether.

Don't know enough yet.

If a player is suspended for 6 months what does this actually mean? Obviously he can't play but can he continue to train with the club?

The reason i ask is the talk is the ASADA/AFL investigation will take a few more months (read just near end of season). Lets say Essendon (and possible Trengove god forbid) players cop 6 months (which is what Dr. Peter Bruckner suggests in the Age would be the best case scenario) at the end of the 2013 season, they would be right to play at the beginning of the 2014 season.

This would save the AFL (who hand down penalties - though ASADA would have to OK them) the problem of Essendon not being able to field a team (with all the implications) and if the players could still train they would be right to go in 2014. All sounds a bit convenient i suppose but i could see it play out this way.

As for the punishment for the club, using the punishment meted out to MFC for bringing the game into disrepute you'd have to imagine Essendon will be fined several million dollars and the CEO, board, President and surely Hird (who will have been all over this, there is no way a control freak like him wouldn't have been) will be suspended.

There is no way the AFL - or ASADA for that matter - want this to go to court (for different reasons: the impact on the games image and the chaos that it would cause to fixturing, TV rights etc for the AFL and the resource drain for ASADA). The AFL could a scenario such as the one outlined above to cut a deal with the Bombers not to challenge the punishment in court. Its a horror story all round but at least some of the damage would be contained.

Interesting thoughts Binman.

If a player is suspended for six months from playing, I can't see how he will be allowed near the Club during that period including training. The other issue is if 2 or more players in the one club are pinged for banned substances then there are penalties for the Club.

Whatever ASADA does is not subject to the AFLs consent. Indeed the AFL may also place penalties on the Club. But I would think the AFL will be busy trying to manage the massive fallout on the game.

If players are suspended for unwittingly taking banned drugs through a Club program then the lawyers will have a field day. And in many cases rightly so. What has transpired to damage players reputation, career and health has been nothing short of disgraceful.

If Essendon is guilty then a number of executives should go including Hird. At best the process at EFzc has been slipshod and the CEO and head of footy operations should be exited.

There are similar lessons for MFC.

It's amazing how Hird has fallen though.

I can't imagine he can continue on once this is over and his club is fined heavily and half a dozen players are suspended.

Tried to deflect from the start, was using the 'gear' himself and misled the board.

That should add up to a firing.

The bombers were happy with Dank when everything was going well. When they started to get soft tissue injuries they sacked him.

I heard there was a link between taking these type of drugs and soft tissue injuries, does that mean the bombers knew all along that these drugs were helping the teams performances?

They seem to be grasping at straws with this Dank letter in an act of desperation.

If a player is suspended for 6 months what does this actually mean? Obviously he can't play but can he continue to train with the club?

The reason i ask is the talk is the ASADA/AFL investigation will take a few more months (read just near end of season). Lets say Essendon (and possible Trengove god forbid) players cop 6 months (which is what Dr. Peter Bruckner suggests in the Age would be the best case scenario) at the end of the 2013 season, they would be right to play at the beginning of the 2014 season.

This would save the AFL (who hand down penalties - though ASADA would have to OK them) the problem of Essendon not being able to field a team (with all the implications) and if the players could still train they would be right to go in 2014. All sounds a bit convenient i suppose but i could see it play out this way.

As for the punishment for the club, using the punishment meted out to MFC for bringing the game into disrepute you'd have to imagine Essendon will be fined several million dollars and the CEO, board, President and surely Hird (who will have been all over this, there is no way a control freak like him wouldn't have been) will be suspended.

There is no way the AFL - or ASADA for that matter - want this to go to court (for different reasons: the impact on the games image and the chaos that it would cause to fixturing, TV rights etc for the AFL and the resource drain for ASADA). The AFL could a scenario such as the one outlined above to cut a deal with the Bombers not to challenge the punishment in court. Its a horror story all round but at least some of the damage would be containe

Why do I get the feeling that Essendon players will get 6 months bans after the 2013 season, before the 2014 season and yet somehow Trenners and or other MFC players will get 12 months effective immediately.... and is that a bad thing

What a farce.

Why don't they have a copy of the letter? Very suspicious.

So if this is going to take 12 months before it ends what happens if the bommers win the flag?

It's amazing how Hird has fallen though.

I can't imagine he can continue on once this is over and his club is fined heavily and half a dozen players are suspended.

Tried to deflect from the start, was using the 'gear' himself and misled the board.

That should add up to a firing.

Could well be, who will replace him? someone from the list people have named on this forum to replace Neeld?

With Thymosin, considering Dank's connection with the Cronulla Sharks who took the banned type its not looking good...

It could depend on who the letter is supposed to be from. If the letter is legit and from ASADA they may have got it wrong, because someone either forgot about or didn't realise the implications of the 2011 WADA catchall. Correct me if I am wrong, but I didn't think the government report named it as a banned substance when in fact it is. If he claimed it was a WADA letter and they claim they didn't send one different story perhaps. This will get messy and I bet the lawyers are rubbing their hands with glee.

had a son go through the system.

he was taught by his father not to take anything but always check with our family doctor, hmmm maybe thats why he never made the next step??

i cant believe these young men were stupid enough to fall for the old trick that the club doctor said its fine everybody does this.

i would foot my son up the clacker if he was that niave,somebody within the team and fd has to be shown as incompetent, and given the full sentence deserved.