EXCLUSIVE
As Essendon's deadline to appeal its loss in the Federal Court approaches, Stephen Dank has explained what motivated his supplements program at the club, claiming it was the outcome of an arms race between AFL clubs, where rumour ratcheted up the use of substances.
Dank says of Essendon coach James Hird: "He was adamant one AFL club was on human growth hormone, while testosterone was in use at another club."
Naming the clubs, Dank added: "There had been underground talk about another club in the `90s where even today, during TV football shows, you will hear ex-players say going up against them was like boys playing on men. Once one club went to the edge, others followed.
"Hird was convinced. Everyone at Essendon drove me hard to compete, albeit it legally. Essendon did nothing wrong, even though they drove me hard to the edge."
Dank's final position in sport finished last week, with his contract to provide long-range sports science advice to an English Super League club expiring.
"The Hull Kingston Rovers job has saved my sanity," he said, explaining that it kept him focused while under attack from the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority, the AFL, NRL and media.
"I am angry and frustrated and I ask fair-minded people to consider the following questions.
1. "Why have Essendon and Cronulla been the only clubs in the spotlight?"
It is a reasonable question considering he spent six years at NRL club Manly, with the Sea Eagles winning two premierships during his tenure. He claims he advised Geelong during its successful period via fitness chief Dean Robinson, who was recruited from Manly. Dank was employed by the AFL-subsidised Gold Coast.
"According to the AFL's own website in October last year, it was announced that 12 AFL clubs conducted supplement programs and lacked accountability," Dank said.
"All had governance issues. Why were they not examined? The Suns have been put to bed with no action taken. Same with Manly."
Dank argues, "you can't be a little pregnant" with supplement use, a claim ASADA would dispute, citing drugs that are banned and those that are not.
2. "Why was there such a blow-up in February 2013 about supplement use when I had been working in football clubs for years? While the Brisbane Lions did nothing wrong during their three premierships, they were considered cutting edge and I had full exposure to their program. It was all over the newspapers when I used calf's blood at Manly and it had also been used at the Lions."
He wonders why the AFL did not intervene in 2012 when its chief medical officer was sufficiently concerned to send blood samples of Essendon players to a laboratory in Cologne, Germany, for analysis.
"I got bounced from club to club whenever I had an issue," he says, "But why did the Australian Crime Commission and ASADA allow all this to keep going? Were they trying to see what was under the surface?".
Maybe Dank has answered his own question. The ACC report establishes links between bikies and peptide use. Asked whether he came to the attention of the ACC via this connection, Dank says: "I look no good in leather and can't ride a motorbike."
Told the prevailing view was that bikies rolled into the off-site premises after Essendon players had left, Dank said he was aware of one bikie getting intravenous injections.
"I was still on the premises looking after Essendon's reserve grade team when the so-called bikie gang was supposed to roll in. So was Dean Robinson."
3. "Why are there reams of paper at Essendon of signed consent forms by the players, yet no evidence of the supplements program?"
Dank reveals that he and Robinson wrote the words used in the consent forms. Asked why they were on blank letterhead, he says: "There was no treachery behind this. I've been involved in trials before where there is no letterhead. The information was to be maintained in internal filing, so there was no need."
But where are the files on drugs used? Dank says, "I believe Essendon have a copy of a spreadsheet which shows what was used."
He maintains one newspaper published a tear-out of the spreadsheet showing an approved substance, but the remainder was not shown. One document he claims never to have seen is the letter written by Essendon club doctor Bruce Reid protesting about the escalating use of substances.
"How come I didn't know about it?" he asks, considering it surfaced during the AFL/ASADA investigation. "Why wasn't I ever asked about it at the time Reid had his concerns?"
Asked if there were payment records of his employment at Essendon, Dank says: "I was on a full-time salary there."
4. "So why haven't I come forward to provide evidence to get the players off?" he asks rhetorically, aware he has undertaken to do this on behalf of Cronulla players. "Other people must be brought to justice before I do this.
Invited to name them, he says it will happen in impending court action. "For now, it is enough to say the knowledge and support of the program went as high as it needed to at the club."
Dank clearly has no issue with Hird, likening him to a man recanting moments before being beheaded.
"When he spoke at the Essendon 'self-report' press conference, he had a knife at his back. He was like the bloke condemning his own country before being beheaded by the jihadists. I have enormous sympathy for him. He has a fantastic career ahead as a coach and I believe he will have even more success at it than he was as a player."
5. "Why did the ACC say, 'Mr Dank, you have done nothing wrong?' " he asks. Told that the ACC is a crime fighter and the use of performance-enhancing drugs is not a criminal offence, he says: "I get that but they interviewed me for two days and three-quarters of the questions were orientated to drugs in sport."
The ACC passed the information to ASADA which has asked the NRL and AFL to ban Dank for life. The NRL has done so but the AFL has said it will wait until the Federal Court action, presumably including the appeal period, is over.
While Dank maintains "there was no clandestine Dank plan 14.25", a reference to a East German state doping plan, even his detractors will agree with this final observation of the confusion of the past 18 months.
"It's been such a strange, strange climate," he said.
