Essendon coach James Hird and chairman David Evans now at loggerheads

ESSENDON'S "dream team" partnership of James Hird and David Evans now seems doomed.

ESSENDON'S "dream team" partnership of James Hird and David Evans now seems doomed.

The versions of events about what happened at a meeting at Evans' Hawthorn home on February 4 this year appear to have severely strained a once watertight relationship.

Hird said the truth would come out.

Evans effectively told the Herald Sun on Wednesday that the truth was out.

Who is telling the truth?

It's as murky as it is sad for the long-time mates.

At a scheduled board meeting last night, which became a semi-crisis meeting after revelations in yesterday's Herald Sun, Hird is understood to have kept his briefing strictly to football.

Senior staffers Mark Thompson and Danny Corcoran also spoke to the board on football matters.

Evans, however, was to be quizzed by his fellow directors about Thursday's Herald Sun front page.

But conversations between Evans and several members of his football department have taken place in recent days and point to unsettling times ahead.

The issue surrounds the various commentaries of what happened leading up to Essendon announcing at a press conference on February 5 it wanted to be investigated by the AFL and the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority over fears banned drugs may have been given to players.

Clearly, Evans' future as president is uncertain.

Sources have told the Herald Sun he is considering not standing for re-election at the end of the year - which he pledged after the handing down of the damning Switkowski report in May.

The immediate future of Hird, the champion player-cum-coach, hangs in the balance, with the findings of the ASADA investigation expected in the coming weeks.

In the meantime, Evans and Hird, and several other senior football staff, are at odds.

Perhaps the board meeting might find common ground for all involved.

The AFL has emphatically, and at times angrily, denied passing on information to Essendon, prompting it to "self-report".

Chief executive Andrew Demetriou said yesterday he could not have told Essendon because he did not know the name of the AFL club involved.

He did concede he spoke to Evans by phone at home on the night of February 4, where Hird, Corcoran, former chief executive Ian Robson and club doctor Bruce Reid were summoned for an emergency meeting.

Reports in other media yesterday that Bombers media adviser Liz Lukin was at that meeting were wrong.

Demetriou's interview with Neil Mitchell on 3AW, meanwhile, threw up a curve ball.

Explaining his position, Demetriou said: "As David found out more and more things, he rang me to tell if I knew any more. I kept saying 'I don't know any more, David, I don't know who the club is'."

When asked if he had mentioned the ACC briefing of January 31, Demetriou said no, as he was "subject to confidentiality".

You have to wonder if Evans quizzed Demetriou about his comment, "I don't know who the club is".

Such as: What are you talking about, Andrew? Is there a club? What club? Where are you getting information that there's a club?

On the day after the Evans crisis meeting at his home, Evans, Hird, Robson and two media staffers had a meeting with Demetriou's deputy, Gil McLachlan, and league integrity officer Brett Clothier, a later arrival for the meeting.

Senior Bombers officials were understood to be briefed by Evans and Robson via the telephone as they drove to AFL House for the meeting.

Robson also addressed the entire staff earlier that day.

The ACC effectively said that there was "nothing to see here".

"The ACC has no information to support the assertion that any information about Project Aperio and the links between drugs in sport and organised crime was unlawfully disclosed," it said.

But can we assume the ACC is being constantly briefed by ASADA, which has two testimonies differing to Evans' version?

If yes, how many testimonies does it take to cause angst for the ACC?

Maybe the ACC hasn't read the ASADA investigation report at all.

Indeed, Demetriou might not have any case to answer at all.

Back at the ranch, Hird and Evans are at loggerheads. It's understood they had several telephone conversations about the content of our front page.

They remain friends, but an ongoing working relationship at the club is considered doubtful.

It would be a messy end to the grandest of dreams. Hird is the club's favourite son, and Evans is the son of club legend and former AFL chairman Ron Evans.

Right now, the dream team is having a 'mare.