Hird suffered 'significant' side effects from drugs, according to allegation summary

JAMES Hird injected himself with Melanotan II and suffered ''significant'' side effects, a summary of AFL allegations has revealed.

JAMES Hird injected himself with Melanotan II, suffered "significant" side-effects and continued to allow the man who gave him the drug - and instructions on how to use it - to run his high-performance department.

The allegation is made as part of the detailed and damning summary of charges against Essendon, Hird and three other officials released by the AFL.

The incident allegedly happened in or about October 2011 and the exact nature of the side-effects are redacted.

Hird hit back later in the day - after the wide dissemination of the charge sheet.

He said he had been denied natural justice.

Hird said the Bombers received notice from the AFL that the charges were being released only "minutes" before it happened.

James Hird

"Courtesy would dictate that the AFL would have given adequate notification of the release of the charges so I could prepare," he said.

"We wrote to the AFL last week seeking certain undertakings, particulars of the charges and asked the AFL what the basis of their case was, ie, who its witnesses were and what they were going to say in respect of the charges so I could properly prepare my case.

"The AFL is yet to respond to these requests, which has made the delay of the hearing inevitable. These charges are denied and will be vigorously contested once the AFL actually provides due process.

"The announcement by ambush confirms the AFL is running an agenda which continues to call into question its impartiality."

Hird's use of Melanotan II given to him by fitness boss Dean Robinson does not contravene anti-doping rules, but the next aspect of the charges goes to the heart of what the AFL alleges were alarming breaches of good governance that led to the charge of conduct unbecoming.

"Notwithstanding his first-hand experience of the unsatisfactory manner in which Robinson supplied substances to be injected at the club, including the fact that he had suffered side-effects about which he had not been warned, Hird did not recognise or respond to the indication that the supplements program potentially posed a risk to the players' health, welfare and safety," the charges say.

The AFL charge summary also alleges that Hird was warned off the use of peptides by an AFL integrity officer in August 2011 - well before sports scientist Stephen Dank joined the club in November that year - after making an "informal inquiry of an ASADA representative as to whether any AFL clubs were using peptides".

The charges also include the full text of a letter from club doctor Bruce Reid in January 2012 in which he expressed his strong concerns about the program.

The extensive charge sheet also alleges Hird:

RECEIVED "amino acid and multivitamin" injections from Dank in his office that was not secure, disorganised and lacked appropriate cleanliness.

TOOK no adequate steps to ensure that Robinson was subjected to appropriate employment history checks or that he was appropriately supervised and managed.

TOOK no adequate steps to ensure that Dank was subjected to appropriate employment history checks or was appropriately supervised and managed.

The charge sheet alleges Hird failed to:

INQUIRE as to whether the players were receiving peptides.

INQUIRE of the AFL or ASADA as to whether the supplements program was compliant with the AFL Anti-Doping Code.

TAKE any or any adequate steps to ensure that an adequate system and regulatory process was established in relation to the supplements program.