Gazelle now caught in AFL headlights as Essendon won't pay $10,000 bill
Date
August 4, 2013
Danny Weidler
Sport columnist
He's well known to NRL fans as ''The Gazelle'' and now sports scientist Stephen Dank's assistant at Manly and Cronulla, Darren Hibbert, is about to charge into the AFL spotlight as well. Hibbert was painted as a mystery figure selling peptides out of the boot of his car to NRL players. He says that is wrong on two counts - firstly, he was supplying legitimate products and secondly, ''I have a station wagon, it doesn't have a boot.''
Hibbert was involved with Essendon as a contractor for Advanced Sports Nutrition, supplying products to the Bombers. But here is the problem - ASN is still chasing unpaid invoices from Essendon Football Club estimated to be about $10,000.
Dank and former Essendon trainer Dean Robinson were questioned about their supplement and training program by coach James Hird in 2012, particularly why the players were getting so many soft-tissue injuries. Hibbert said the ASN products ''formed part of the puzzle that allowed Essendon players to help increase their muscle mass, strength and recovery times''.
''But it fell apart halfway through the season because the schedule of the weight training sessions may have led to soft-tissue injuries. I believe that because Essendon players were developing new muscle, they were not given enough time to mature and the new muscle fibres tore under stress. The program may have been flawed because this type of training is done pre-season and is tapered down during the season.''
Hibbert said individual peptides were not performance enhancing but combining them with products such as Humanofort and HP100 on top of weight training had the potential to enhance performance. ''The method of using multiple training aids in combination to enhance performance is not banned by WADA,'' he said. ''Individual methods or substances that increase performance are banned.''
When the truth comes out about Essendon's weight training and training program, you will find overtraining and incorrect training methods were causing conflict within the high performance team. You can be sure that Dank did not agree with what was being advised by Hird and others. There was not enough rest and stretching and the program was too intense. The problem was the desire to match and better what Geelong and Collingwood were doing.
Taking offers
Stephen Dank is starting to field approaches from book publishers to tell his side of the biggest local sports story of the year. Dank has not given it a huge amount of thought yet but it’s known he is open to the idea.
Noakes move puzzles
Sharks insiders say even coach Shane Flanagan is struggling to understand why the club has reinstated Mark Noakes as a trainer with just a handful of games to play until the NRL season is over. Don't think for a moment Noakes and Flanagan don't get along; far from it, they are close mates. And Noakes is respected and liked by the playing group. But given his job has been filled and the Sharks are moving on nicely, it's being viewed as a red rag to both ASADA and the NRL. There are plenty at the Sharks who view the immediate reappointment as the club sticking its chin out and waiting for it be be whacked again by the growing number of critics. It had been suggested Noakes would start during the week but that didn't happen. Noakes was waiting for a call from Steve Noyce to tell him to come to work. In the meantime, he had to front up to an ASADA interview - one that had been organised separately to the Sharks.
Graham's next step
We told you last week Sharks captain Paul Gallen was beefing up his legal team. Now teammates are considering doing the same. Cronulla skipper-in-waiting Wade Graham is known to be considering his legal options. Graham is being guided by his agent, Mark Stewart, as he considers his options. Graham had been pinpointed as a Sharks player who had cut a deal with ASADA but his agent says that is not true and he has not made up his mind. Graham has had his fill of the media for the year, and it's hard to blame him - he was fried after stories were published detailing his defiance in the face of ASADA's questioning. What has not been noted is that Dave Smith, the boss of the NRL, saw the transcript of the Graham interview and could not fathom why ASADA stopped the chats.
