Mark Robinson and Michael Warner take you behind the scenes of the Essendon drugs saga
A fiery response from Andrew Demetriou to chief football writer Mark Robinson made front page headlines. Robbo reveals how it escalated in a Bombers drugs saga special.
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Herald Sun football journalists Mark Robinson and Michael Warner have detailed the extraordinary stories and events that occurred as two reporters covering the longstanding Essendon drugs saga since the story first broke 10 years ago.
In a special two-part behind the scenes podcast, the pair opened up on the secret tapes, rabbit holes, inconvenient truths, scaremongering and complexities they faced in a story that dominated the AFL media news cycle for years.
LISTEN TO PART 1 HERE
Chief Football writer Robinson revealed where he was and the unlikely source when he first sensed something was brewing at the Bombers while Warner explained how a top ranked media advisor arrived at the club and knew the story stepped up a notch.
“When the shit hits the fan, bring in Liz (Lukin) and there was never more shit on the fan than when this story broke,” Warner recalled.
The pair also revealed where they were when the story turned into a “war” between media outlets.
LISTEN TO PART II HERE
“This is where it was a tit-for-tat period where there’d be a front page here, there’d be a retaliation story here,” Warner said.
“It was like the gangland wars, there was something going off every minute and it was hard to keep up.”
Hear the secret tapes involving Bombers chairman Paul Little and his conversations with Gillon McLachlan and the audio of the mother of a Bombers player ringing through to Eddie McGuire’s Triple M breakfast show.
A campaign started in the aftermath of the radio segment to find out who made the call but the identity has never been revealed.
“I said to Eddie (McGuire) ‘you didn’t even know who she was, you just put her on,’” Robinson recalled.
The two-part series also features fellow Herald Sun journalist Sam Landsberger who spoke exclusively with Bombers player Stewart Crameri about his memories of his time through the saga and how the intense media coverage was a key factor in his decision to move to the Western Bulldogs.
“We had the media at most of the training sessions at Essendon and some days that would get to me,” Crameri said.
“It got to a lot of other guys and it was just more of an annoying thing. I know you guys had a job to do so that’s fine but it was partly trying to get away from all that.”
The two-part podcast special also unpacks:
-Robbo’s famous phone chat with Andrew Demetriou which eventually made front-page headlines itself
-The special meeting with Mick, Robbo and the Essendon players at Bombers HQ
-The first time Robbo got whiff something had gone down at Essendon
-The day the story broke when Essendon self-reported
-The raw emotion and phone conversations with Thompson, Stephen Dank and James Hird
Originally published as Mark Robinson and Michael Warner take you behind the scenes of the Essendon drugs saga
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