New Essendon documentary: Bombers revisit dark days of supplements saga

Unrelenting. Brutal. Totally lost. Essendon figures have lifted the lid on the devastating toll of the drugs saga. And 10 years on, the black cloud is only just starting to lift.

Essendon figures have lifted the lid on the devastating toll of the supplements scandal, saying it “destroyed” relationships and crippled careers.

Almost 10 years on from the first injection, Bombers list boss Adrian Dodoro said the drugs saga was a “black cloud” which had only begun to lift from the club.

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Essendon fought a bitter battle to clear the players’ names but were shocked when 34 Bombers were ultimately suspended for one year because of a shambolic injections program led by sports scientist Stephen Dank.

In an eight-part documentary series, titled ‘The Bombers: Stories of a great club’, celebrating the club’s 150-year anniversary, which will be shown on Fox Footy and Kayo from October 19, Essendon players and key staff open up on the harrowing extent of the trauma.

Dyson Heppell says the players’ maintained their innocence

Former midfielder Heath Hocking said it was hard to escape the intense scrutiny at the peak of the crisis.

“It was a tough year,” Hocking said.

“Especially early on going down to the shops and feeling like everyone was looking at you and (thinking) he’s a drug cheat and things like that.

“I know in my heart that wasn’t true.

“You still have those thoughts that people are thinking that.”

Skipper Dyson Heppell said the players’ maintained their innocence.

“You have a decision to become a victim to the whole situation or you can stand up and face it and know within yourself we carried ourselves (well) … and deep down knowing we absolutely did nothing wrong,” Heppell said.

An AFL anti-doping tribunal briefly cleared the players on March 31, 2015, finding them not guilty of using a banned substance, Thymosin beta-4. But relief turned to despair on January 12, 2016 when the World Anti-Doping Authority handed down the year-long suspension, forcing the banned players to train away from the club.

Coach James Hird resigned in August 2015 under fierce pressure, and admitted he faced a tough mental health battle in the following years.

Former chairman Lindsay Tanner said the 12 month-long penalty in the Court of Arbitration for Sport was much worse than they feared.

Jobe Watson was stripped of his 2012 Brownlow Medal.

“Nobody realistically was anticipating the result that occurred,” Tanner said.

“We did realise there was a risk of a decision that was going to go against us, but we were astonished at the severity of the penalty,”

Former coach John Worsfold, who took charge of the team as it slumped to the bottom of the ladder amid the fall-out, said the WADA verdict had gutted the players.

“It hit them like a tonne of bricks,” Worsfold said.

“They (players) have put their faith and their trust in a game that they love and they have been hurt.”

Worsfold said the club understood the detachment the players felt from the game and the club following the suspensions.

“(We thought) it is going to be hard to get them to love the game again and have that trust of everyone around them,” Worsfold said.

The Essendon 34 weren’t allowed to visit the club and were discouraged from talking about the specifics of the injections program.

Former chairman Paul Little said “the players were totally lost”.

“They couldn’t speak to their families, they couldn’t speak to their girlfriends. They couldn’t speak to anyone,” Little said.

“It (that period of time) wouldn’t want to have been much more turbulent.

“It was a war that we were going through, and we were constantly on the back foot.”

The Bombers were stripped of three first and second-round draft picks in the 2013 and 2014 national drafts.

The club was also fined $2 million.

Dodoro said “to see young men’s careers torn apart was brutal”.

“It is a black cloud that is slowly lifting,” Dodoro said.

“It was unrelenting, and to walk out of these offices every day, to see throngs of media, cameras.”

Captain Jobe Watson was praised for his leadership throughout the saga despite the significant personal toll.

Michael Hurley praised Jobe Watson’s leadership. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

Veteran defender Michael Hurley said Watson was a pillar of strength.

“I often refer to Jobe as the guy that brought us together and got us through,” Hurley said.

“He wore the brunt of it. He was the captain of the club, essentially the face of the club throughout that period. Him and Hirdy were the ones who copped a fair brunt.

“For a teammate and captain he really got us through and led the way. Someone I couldn’t have any more respect for.”

Jobe’s father, Tim Watson, who is an Essendon legend, said the impacts were far-reaching as club bosses tried to plot a path out of the mess.

“It destroyed a lot of relationships, it disrupted a lot of people’s lives. It was a significant event,” Watson said.

Essendon was second on the ladder facing a top-of-the-table battle against Hawthorn in Round 17 of 2013 when things began to unravel on the field, five months after the club “self-reported” in February.

They were banned from the finals, replaced by Carlton, and then slid down the ladder in following years, racking up 12 wins (2014), six wins (2015) and three wins (2016).

Hird said he felt for the players the most.

“My overarching thought throughout the whole process was to make sure the players were OK,” Hird said.

“And to try and get them cleared of anything that happened, which obviously in the end didn’t happen, (but) emotionally and mentally to try and make sure they were OK.

“There are players that lost three years of their career there and that shouldn’t have happened.”

Campbell said the documentary series, which was led by Essendon board member Dave Barham and produced by Neil Kearney, “captures everything about our football club”.

“It captures the people, the moments, the success, the challenges and the triumphs and 150 years is such a significant milestone,” Campbell said.

“It does bring to life a lot of what this football club has stood for.

“It is a family club, it is a successful club, it has a rich heritage, and it is a club which is always striving to do more, to be more and to win more.”