Sacked sports scientist Stephen Dank says Jobe Watson should keep his Brownlow medal
SACKED sports scientist at centre of Essendon drugs scandal says Jobe Watson should keep his Brownlow and booing him was wrong.
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THE sacked sports scientist at the centre of the Essendon drugs scandal says Jobe Watson should keep his Brownlow Medal.
Amid fears the Bombers could be stripped of vital premiership points, Stephen Dank says Watson has done nothing wrong.
He said the booing of the Essendon skipper at Patersons Stadium was outrageous.
Bombers should be stripped of premiership points
Peter Bell: Jobe Watson should be stood down
"Of course I felt for Jobe," Dank said.
"He shouldn't lose his Brownlow Medal ... it's ridiculous.
"Under no circumstances should Jobe lose his Brownlow Medal. I can't believe this."
Dank didn't want to discuss his role in the drugs saga, but it is believed he will fight the status of AOD-9604, the substance prescribed to Essendon players last year.
He has told the Herald Sun: "The players will be fine and I can guarantee that."
AFL chiefs yesterday floated the extraordinary prospect of docking Essendon's premiership points over the club's 2012 supplements experiment.
Bookmakers last night suspended betting on the Bombers' involvement in finals this year.
Essendon has won 10 of 13 games this season and sits third on the AFL ladder.
League football operations chief Mark Evans said deducting points was an option the commission could consider once the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority investigation was completed.
Footy's doping probe is due to finish before the finals series in September.
"It is certainly within the scope of the commission to do that, but it will be a commission decision once it has been tabled," Mr Evans told the AFL's website.
"There is a range of possibilities if the commission decided there was a breach that needed to be acted on. That could include a whole range of things from fines, draft picks ... it could be dealing with individuals and anything else."
The heat on Essendon was turned up by former AFL Players Association president Peter Bell, who called for Watson to be immediately stood down.
Watson confessed last week to believing he had been administered the banned drug AOD-9604.
"For a guy to openly confess he had taken an illegal substance against the rules under the (World Anti-Doping Agency) code, he should have been given an infraction and stood down straight away, and an opportunity for him to get out and give his defence should have been made," Bell told Perth radio 6PR.
"There's no way, in my opinion, and I have got a lot of admiration for Jobe Watson and I sympathise with him a lot under the circumstances that I understand. But it is clear-cut, absolutely clear-cut, that there should be a hearing right now.
"There may well be a defence that we are not aware of. But if he is cleared and there is not a legitimate defence that will reduce, in the eyes of international sport, the AFL to a laughing stock."
Bell condemned the AFL's silence on the Watson admission.
"The silence is deafening," he said.
"You are running our competition that we all are stakeholders in, whatever your agenda is, and I understand due process. Due process is out the window right now because of Jobe Watson's admission. It is embarrassing the AFL. I need to hear from the AFL."
Essendon remains hopeful its players will escape sanction from ASADA over the club's 2012 supplements regime.
A guilty verdict would almost certainly see the Bombers declared ineligible for this year's flag.
But the club is bracing for heavy punishment by the AFL Commission regardless of the outcome of the ASADA investigation.
- with Michael Manley
How we've covered the story so far
Mick Malthouse says the AFL needs to give clarity on the Essendon drugs saga
Essendon responds to claims players were used as guinea pigs in supplement trials
Essendon captain Jobe Watson admits he believes he took a banned drug
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