Brent Prismall says Essendon and James Hird have a lot to answer for over supplements saga

BANNED ex-Bomber Brent Prismall has slammed his former club and coach James Hird for the supplements regimen that forced him out of football.

Brent Prismall lost his job at the Western Bulldogs due to the WADA ban.

BANNED former Bomber Brent Prismall believes he could well have been given banned substance Thymosin beta-4 during the club’s 2012 injections program that he says treated the players as “guinea pigs”.

The 29-year-old said not knowing what he was administered during 2012 plagues him every day and is calling for more support from the club for the banned Bombers no longer on Essendon’s payroll.

He is embarrassed, he said, and is struggling to deal with the lack of clarity.

“No I don’t (know what I was given), no,” he told ABC Radio.

“My biggest stress is the fact you can’t give any clarity on what you’ve been given.

“I find it hard not to be embarrassed by it. It’s hard to take when you are called a drug cheat and I’ve been called that. It’s not ideal, but facts are facts. I’m not working, I’m not playing footy this year and that’s the reason why.”

Brent Prismall lost his job at the Western Bulldogs due to the WADA ban.

Prismall said former coach James Hird has plenty to answer for as well.

“The coach at a football club knows everything,” he said.

“Ultimately he would make the decision as to whether the program would or would not run.

“He certainly has a level of responsibility as well.”

Despite being told players were being injected with amino acids and vitamins and signing a form consenting to be injected with Thymosin, Prismall said he now believes sports scientist Stephen Dank “possibly would have” had banned substance Thymosin beta-4 at the club - the substance that the Court of Arbitration for Sport deemed was likely the substance players were administered.

Prismall had started a job in player welfare at the Western Bulldogs, from which he is also banned from participating while serving the ban, and has been sidelined from his plans to play VFL.

“It’s possible (we were given that), yeah. I don’t think I did, but it is possible,” he said.

“From what I know, yes, (Dank) quite possibly would have had it (at the club).

I find it hard not to be embarrassed by it. It’s hard to take when you are called a drug cheat and I’ve been called that.

Brent Prismall

“I’m serving a ban for taking it. I’ve lost my job because of it. I’ve lost my footy career because of it. Lost a whole heap of other things, possibly some respect within footy circles.

“It does trouble me.

“I think there’s a massive level of deception by (Dank and then-club fitness boss Dean Robinson).

“It certainly feels like we were guinea pigs in all this. Every time I got an injection I asked what it was. I’m not sure what more there is for me to do in that situation.

“I don’t feel defeated, but I certainly feel deflated from it. At a point in time I’ll be able to move on. That’s not right now.”

Prismall, who was in his fourth year at the club when the program was in place, said he doesn’t feel like a drug cheat, but admitted that banned past players feel like they have been left out in the cold by the club despite public pledges of support.

“I think we’re in this position because of the football club,” he said.

“I understand that Essendon’s priorities are with the players that they still employ, but given the circumstances I think they could have done more along the way.

“I get a phone call off someone from time to time, but it’s a pretty vague sort of phone call, it’s of no substance.”

Originally published as Brent Prismall says Essendon and James Hird have a lot to answer for over supplements saga