http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-...upplement-investigation/8299430?section=sport
Essendon doping scandal: Gillon McLachlan denies misleading club during AFL supplements investigation
AFL boss Gillon McLachlan says the league never misled Essendon over the doping scandal, as a recording emerges of angry senior Bombers officials accusing AFL of lying to them.
The Herald Sun published the tape of a 2013 meeting involving coach James Hird, chairman Paul Little, assistant coach Mark Thompson and football manager Danny Corcoran discussing the situation and their legal options.
All four are no longer at the club.
The club had at that stage been accused of administering banned supplements to the players during the 2012 season, under a program lead by now-disgraced sports scientist Stephen Dank.
When discussing the AFL's position, Little told the group "In last few days ... they've absolutely said one thing and done the opposite".
"Two days ago I was told that wasn't happening without being given an opportunity to sit down and negotiate ... and clearly that's not going to happen," he said.
Hird replied "They're a pack of f**king lying pricks, and they have done from the start."
This morning McLachlan told SEN Radio he had not listened to the recording, but denied he had misled the club.
"In terms of actually being called someone who lies, well the day that I lie to someone is the day I can't do my job," he said.
"I feel entirely comfortable. The offer given with Paul at the start was exactly the same to where we ended up at the end."
Little said AFL 'had gone back on its word'
Earlier in the meeting Hird can be heard saying the AFL had earlier that week talked about the players being cleared.
"They're now going back on that, obviously?" he asked.
Little said he had spoken to McLachlan, who was then deputy to Andrew Demetriou, about getting the players cleared "unconditionally" but accused McLachlan of "going back on his word".
When relaying the story to the three others in the room, Little said McLachlan had denied it and questioned what it was the chairman wanted him to do.
McLachlan said he never gave the club any guarantees.
"Our view at the time was that the players wouldn't be charged, there was substance to that in the document from ASADA to us, which actually says there wasn't enough evidence at the time," he said.
"[But] I think it was clear there wasn't any certainty about that. It was known and explicit that the investigation was ongoing."
He said the three years was a "tumultuous" time for all involved but defended the AFL's stance.
"I think in the end the AFL's action and decisiveness ended up being justified but you don't walk away from the fact it was an incredible difficult time," he said.
Someone needed to be held accountable: McLachlan
After the recorded meeting, the
AFL later charged the club, Hird, Thompson and Corcoran and doctor Bruce Reid with bringing the game into disrepute but the players were cleared of wrongdoing.
The Bombers were fined $2 million, kicked out of the 2013 finals series, stripped of draft picks and Hird was suspended for 12 months.
But the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) challenged the decision to clear the players and last year
34 of the players involved were also suspended for 12 months.
McLachlan today said he did not believe any of those in the tape had been mistreated but understood if others felt they had.
"We still don't know what they were given, and in the end there has to be accountability for that."
When asked about the legality of the ASADA report by Thompson during the meeting, Little said he doubted it would stand up in court.
Little said Hird's determination to fight the accusations was admirable, but believed a deal would have to be made with authorities at some point.
"If there's a deal to be cut to get all of this behind us and get on with our lives, as much as we hate it and we detest it and we believe we've been wronged and everything else, you as individuals and the club as a whole need to decide if that's what they want to do".
