Essendon chairman Paul Little says he wants to work with the AFL and the Federal Government to make the supplements scandal ‘‘go away’’.
Little said the club ‘‘was looking for a circuit-breaker’’ in the long-running saga and he was hopeful that with a decision pending on the Bombers’ Federal Court challenge to the legitimacy of the the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority’s investigation, that a favourable result could provide the necessary prompt.
But as Little voiced his wish on 3AW on Thursday morning, he was also faced with a report that seven players were considering suing the Bombers. Little was asked by Neil Mitchell on his morning show if he was aware that players ‘‘had taken legal advice on the possibility of suing the club for mental and possibly physical distress in the future’’.
Little replied that he ‘‘wasn’t aware of that until you mentioned it’’.
‘‘I respect the rights of players to take whatever legal advice they wish,’’ he said.
‘‘They are being independently advised at the moment. It’s worth pointing out however that of the 34 players who have received show-cause notices, and we don’t know who they are, 14 are no longer at the club, so it may well be those players.”
The Federal Court on Wednesday finished hearing three days of at-times explosive testimony in the challenge by Essendon and suspended coach James Hird that ASADA exceeded its powers by running a joint investigation with the AFL into the club’s controversial supplements program.
ASADA counsel Tom Howe told the court on Wednesday that even if the investigation and subsequent report were ruled illegal, the body could re-issue the show-cause notices within 24 hours.
Little said he disputed Howe’s claim and questioned the value for the Federal Government and the AFL in continuing to pursue the Bombers, who were fined and expelled from finals last year after being found to have brought the game into disrepute.
‘‘The view of our legal team was that if the process was deemed unlawful, they couldn’t just simply start again within 24 hours,’’ Little said.
‘‘We believe if the process was unlawful, the information can’t be used. It can be recollected so to speak, but I think the government would need to take a view now if this is in the best interest of the community generally and sport generally and at this point in time, that’s not clear.
‘I would love to be able to engage with the sports minister – I haven’t been able to do that at this stage – simply to understand the priorities from the government’s point of view. I think given that the court case is now finished, I’m hopeful that I can perhaps do that.
‘‘… We’re looking for a circuit-breaker. It is possible that this Federal Court case now will determine that the process is unlawful and in that situation we could find that the show-cause notices go as a result of that. But it’s too early to tell.’’
When asked what he hoped to achieve from a meeting with sports minister Peter Dutton, Little said he would ‘‘ask him to try to find a circuit-breaker’’.
‘‘The whole community has got fatigue with this investigation and if the sports minister is able to help us find a way through it, then I think that’s in everyone’s best interest.
‘‘… This whole investigation now has been aired in every newspaper, on every radio station, on every TV channel, I think it’s had an airing that’s been fair and reasonable, but we now need to, for the sake of the game and certainly I’ve taken this up with the AFL, we now need to find a way of making it go away.
’’While he said he has not asked the AFL to drop the issue, he had been speaking to AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan, most recently on Wednesday night, ‘‘about how we could work together now for the betterment of the game not just what’s good for Essendon’’.
Little continued to maintain that the supplements program had not involved performance-enhancing drugs.
‘‘We have accepted and been punished accordingly for a disrepute charge and we’ve never complained about that, and I would point out so has James Hird,’’ Little said.
‘‘It’s worth remembering too that James was not allowed to talk. The AFL weren’t allowing him to talk as part of the settlement agreement, Essendon to some extent weren’t allowing James to talk and also with the court proceedings under way (he could not talk), so in fairness to James he hasn’t been in a position to be talking.
‘‘My view is that Essendon have accepted responsibility for what has been proven. I’m still of the view that we did not take performance-enhancing drugs with the information that’s in front of us.
‘‘… Whether it was banned or performance-enhancing, it’s still an area that ASADA has a different view on to the club and to some extent I had hoped that this court hearing may have showed us some of the information and some of the evidence that has been missing so far. We were disappointed there.’’
However, Little said the club was continuing to medically monitor the players.
‘‘I think it’s responsible. We should be testing our players because if something did happen, and we don’t know if it did, we don’t believe it did, we don’t want to take the players’ health for granted.’’
Little said the club would encourage Hird to publicly state his case.
‘‘I’m hopeful that at some point in the future that James will speak,’’ Little said.
‘‘We’ve had a gag on James until his suspension is effectively finished (August 23) and then James will be encouraged to re-engage with our members, our supporters in the football community.’’
