The Essendon supplements saga has once again been thrown into the spotlight, with the Herald Sun leaking a secret tape of a Bombers' crisis meeting from the height of the scandal.
The recording, from 2013,ย is of Essendonย chairman Paul Little, coach James Hird, senior assistant Mark Thompson and football manager Danny Corcoran.
The quartet can be heard discussing their rage at the AFL, who they believe had betrayed them.
โEvery single issue that I agreed on with Gil McLachlan, and I met with him the other night, has pretty much been reversed now in this note here," Little says.
โI rang him ยญ(McLachlan) last night and I said, โYou know, youโve really upset me here, because youโve gone back on your word, Gilโ.
โHe said, โNo no, I havenโt, I havenโtโ. I said, โYou have. You told me one thing, and now youโre doing something elseโ.โ
Hird then responds with:ย โTheyโre a pack of f---ing lying ยญpr---s โ and they have done from the start โฆ โ
Little also details a conversation he had with McLachlanย about whether the players would be punished.
"Because based on reading the report I donโt think that, legally, we could be charged with anything. So if thereโs not something else then how do we sort of rationalise with what theyโre doing? I donโt know how you rationalise,"Little adds.
"Can I go back a step? They talked about, during the week, that the players would get cleared," Hird responds. "Theyโre now going back on that, obviously?
"Heโs now saying to me, โoh, I was referring to 9604โ, and I said, โthat is f--king crapโ. I said, โwe parked 9604, we all agreed that that was going nowhereโ, and then we spoke about getting the players cleared, โunconditionallyโ was the word I used,"Little explains.
"He then said to me: โThere is a 99% chance that the players wonโt be chargedโ. And I said, โwell, Iโd like to believe you but are you happy for me to use that language in front of the players?โ. And he said, โoh no, you canโt do thatโ. And I said, โwell, f--k, youโre telling me one thing and over here we canโt say anything to the playersโ.
"And he said, โlet me work on it, I will try and give you some language that will give you the comfort that the players so desperately needโ.
"But legally, what heโs saying is that ASADA or WADA or anyone else wonโt sign off on an enduring release for the players because if something turns up next month, next year, they donโt want to have a situation where they canโt do anything because theyโve given this full release.
"And I said, โso you expect these guys to be playing footy for the next couple years with this hanging over their head?โ. And he said, โwellโ ... he said, โthatโs what ASADA are saying to usโ. So I donโt know...itโs just round and round in circles.
Little even suggests at one point the club should accept a deal.
"I mean, Hirdyโs determination to fight this is admirable in many ways, but โฆ I just think at some point in time if thereโs 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 weโve been wronged and everything else, you as individuals and the club as a whole need to decide if thatโs what they want to do,โ he says.
โWhat is in the best interest of the footy club and what is in the best interest of you individually?"
