EXCLUSIVE
The AFL anti-doping tribunal that cleared 34 Essendon players was highly critical of the club's conduct in 2012, describing its supplements program record-keeping as "deplorable."
In the judgment that was released only to the parties, the tribunal chaired by David Jones said there had been a "deplorable absence of records in the program relating to its administration".
In finding that it could not be comfortably satisfied that the players took the banned drug thymosin beta-4, the tribunal noted that "it is the responsibility of the club to ensure that complete and accurate records are kept".
The tribunal also lashed the consent forms signed by players, calling them "alarmingly inadequate" amid an injecting program run by club official Stephen Dank.
"The tribunal concludes that the supplement program was not of the standard and rigour one would expect from an elite football club like Essendon. There was far too much reliance on Mr [Stephen] Dank," the judgment said.
"All in all there appears to be an unquestioning reliance on MrDank. From time to time issues were raised with him and his explanations were accepted and he continued his injection regime. Apart from some involvement from DrReid, who was effectively bypassed, there were no steps taken to check what Mr Dank was proposing or doing with some independent person.
"One of the players said in his interview that Mr Dank acted as if he was God. It seems that he was treated as if he was God in relation to the supplements program.
"It's clear the players had no actual knowledge of the substance with which they were injected.
"There is evidence from a player he was injected with a substance from a brown vial that Mr Dank always told him was thymosin."
But Jones said that was of "no significant probative value".
The tribunal was comfortably satisfied that biochemist Shane Charter had bought thymosin beta-4 in his first shipment of peptides from GL Biochem in China and that those peptides were passed on to compounding pharmacist Nima Alavi. There was some inference in correspondence from Alavi that he had compounded the drug.
But the tribunal was not sure that Dank had received the drug in his capacity as an Essendon representative. The tribunal rejected the notion that he had used the legal variant, thymosin alpha.
Jones said the tribunal had no reason to doubt a statement by Mr Xu of GL Biochem, where he said he had produced thymosin beta-4 for Charter, which Xu had said should only be used for research purposes, and not administered to humans.
The revelations came as AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan urged the country's peak anti-doping body not to appeal the case, while admitting the players may never know what supplements they had been injected with.
After what McLachlan described as "the most complex case ever tried by the AFL tribunal", the league boss said it was time for the saga, which officially exploded on February 5, 2013, when the Bombers self-reported to the AFL and the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority, to end.
"ASADA, WADA will make the decision they believe is the right decision from their perspective. Sitting here as the chief executive of the league, knowing the evidence has been properly heard by an independent tribunal and they have made that decision after a long period of time, it's in my interest now that the competition can go forward."
McLachlan said the AFL would review the 133-page document which outlined why ASADA's case had failed under the "comfortable satisfaction" criteria. He would like the document released publicly, but said this decision could only be made by the 34 players under anti-doping rules.
"However, judgment and evidence should give no one any joy about what happened in our competition in 2012," McLachlan said.
"It is the AFL's view and the view of Essendon's own internal report that the players were victims of a reckless program which has hung over the players and the competition for more than two years.
"Given the evidence the AFL collected, the ASADA interim report and Essendon's own report, it was clear breaches of the AFL's rules had occurred.
"The Essendon Football Club in 2013 accepted that it had engaged in practices that exposed players to risks to their health and safety as well as the unacceptable risk of using substances that were prohibited by the AFL anti-doping code and the world anti-doping code." McLachlan said he felt for the players but stopped short of suggesting they deserved an apology.
"I feel for the players over this long period of time. You could see the anguish on Jobe Watson's face today. I think it's been a very difficult time for them," he said.
Disappointed ASADA chief Ben McDevitt called the supplements program "absolutely and utterly disgraceful" but did not reveal whether the anti-doping body or the World Anti-Doping Agency would appeal to the AFL's appeals tribunal, or to the Court of the Arbitration of Sport.
McDevitt is set to elaborate on Wednesday.
Hird, who said on Tuesday he had apologised five times throughout the ordeal, could not confirm what substances were given to the players, saying it hadn't been his role as a coach to choose the supplements.
That was largely the responsibility of Stephen Dank, who was also issued with an infraction notice and had his case heard by the AFL's anti-doping tribunal.
However, a ruling on Mr Dank's status by anti-doping tribunal chairman David Jones won't be known until after Easter. Mr Dank did not appear before the tribunal.
"There are questions that will never be answered," McLachlan said.
"There are some people who say they know what they had given and I think the players would love to know.
"From what I have read and I need to be careful because it is a confidential document, what we can say what was established through the tribunal is that theyweren't comfortably satisfied it was thymosin beta-4. I don't think they have established what it was."
Mr Dank told Channel Nine it was a "just result" and Hird had "believed in" the supplements program.
Mr Dank maintained he had not endangered the players "in no way, shape or form" or used substances which were "toxic to their bodies", declaring the "script" had been written by the AFL.
The AFL is completing an internal review into how it handled the case. This review is expected to be made public. The league is also reviewing its anti-doping policy and procedures.
"We are extremely comfortable with the process generally," McLachlan said, adding that it was time to "move forward and rebuild Essendon Football Club to one of the great clubs of our competition".
Essendon captain Jobe Watson described the feeling of freedom from the investigation as "surreal", as he and his teammates turned their attention to the club's season-opener against Sydney on Saturday.
"I've almost forgotten what it's like to be an AFL player without having this hanging over our heads. When you live through something for 26 months, it becomes a part of you," he said.
