“As the captain, a position of leadership, it was important to be behind it as well. When there were concerns raised by players, there was some due diligence, and there were people across it to say: ‘Look, this is something that has been approved, there is nothing that is illegal here and we have a level of comfort from that’.”
Loading
Dank, sacked by the Bombers in late 2012, had worked briefly as a part-time consultant with the Gold Coast Suns in the 2011 pre-season, while the Bombers’ new fitness chief Dean Robinson had also been at the Suns and Geelong.
“Given the people that were coming from outside the football club introducing these programs, there was a mentality [that] this is what is going on, and this is the standard practice at other football clubs, given these people had been employed elsewhere,” Watson said.
Watson’s teammate David Zaharakis also had a fear of needles, and did not take part in the program.
When the scandal erupted, the Bombers stood down Robinson, who later successfully sued the club for unfair dismissal for about $1 million.
Watson, who maintains a role on Seven’s footy coverage, said he was confident the players were not administered performance-enhancing drugs, and pointed out there were no positive tests through the week or on game day.
Key players in the Essendon supplements saga: (from left) James Hird, Stephen Dank and Dean RobinsonCredit: The Age
While he said the evidence tabled at the AFL anti-doping tribunal and CAS, and the documents he had signed, provided him with a “level of knowledge”, he still could not say “exactly what I was given”. This aligns with the judgment that initially cleared the players in March 2015 despite finding the players had no actual knowledge of the substances they were given.
“At the time, you are young, you feel like you have got this documentation that you asked for, that was generated by the club, to say that anything that is being administered has been approved by WADA and ASADA. You feel like you have gone above and beyond,” Watson said.
“The other thing that doesn’t make any sense is the administration of the program was so haphazard. If it had been illegal, there would have been a positive test. It wasn’t as if Stephen Dank knew ASADA are coming in to test you on these days, so … don’t come to the club this day.
“He had no records and no diligence around the administration of the supplements or the injections. Therefore, there would be no control or parameters around the testing of them. So the logical outcome is that there would have been a positive test.”
However, this case was ruled an anti-doping rule violation because it related to the use of a prohibited substance, rather than the presence of a prohibited substance, the latter typically proven by an analytical positive test, such as a positive blood or urine test. CAS, after an appeal by the World Anti-Doping Agency, ruled that it was comfortably satisfied that the anti-doping rule violation had occurred.
Watson admitted on Fox Footy’s On the Couch in 2013 that he had been given the anti-obesity drug AOD-9604. WADA had said two months earlier that the drug was banned, although an Australian Crime Commission report was less than clear.
Dank told ABC television’s 7.30 a week after the scandal erupted that there had been no intravenous application of peptides, and that any peptides administered to players were “very, very legal” under the WADA code.
However, in 2015, the AFL tribunal found him guilty of trafficking a number of illicit supplements and banned him from any association with the AFL for life.
While the Bombers were fined $2 million and booted out of the finals in 2013 for bringing the game into disrepute, with Hird handed a one-year ban, Watson said the fondest wins of his career came in that turbulent season.
Hamish McLachlan’s full interview with Jobe Watson can be seen on Unfiltered on Seven on Wednesday, 9.30pm.
Keep up to date with the best AFL coverage in the country. Sign up for the Real Footy newsletter.
