Hird rejected plea bargain: report
James Hird reportedly rejected an offer from the AFL to take the rap for the peptides program that’s ended in charges against the Essendon Football Club and four of its officials.
In separate reports in Melbourne media today, it’s claimed that if Hird pleaded guilty, it would have spared club doctor Bruce Reid, Mark Thompson and Danny Corcoran from facing the AFL Commission.
“The negotiation was to have seen Reid and Corcoran resign from Essendon at the end of the season,” The Age’s Caroline Wilson reported.
“Instead both men, along with senior assistant Thompson, chose to stand alongside Hird and fight the misconduct charges.
“Essendon and Hird were to have been charged on Monday but legal wrangling stalled the announcement until 7.30 pm Tuesday, with the Bombers seething at what they regarded as divisive tactics by the AFL designed to drive a wedge between Hird and his three long-time colleagues.”
The club and four officials were all charged on Tuesday night with bringing the game into disrepute over their roles in the Bombers’ 2011-12 supplements program.
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All of those parties are scheduled to front the AFL Commission on August 26, although there is speculation they will instead seek a court injunction.
The commission has the power to hand out suspensions and fines, and strip the Bombers of premiership points and draft picks, should the charges be sustained.
The Herald Sun reported that details of the charges against Essendon included a reference to a proposed doping program where Essendon players were to receive 1500 injections of AOD-9604 and Thymosin. The report says the charge documents also state the club allowed the administering of prohibited drugs or alternatively is unable to determine whether players were administered substances prohibited by the AFL anti-doping code and World Anti-Doping Agency code.
Former Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett said yesterday Essendon should be prevented from playing in the AFL next season if the saga wasn’t resolved by the end of November.
Kennett said the AFL can’t afford to let the saga drag on indefinitely.
The former Victorian premier says the AFL must put the reputation of the code first, even if it means playing with just 17 teams next year.
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“I don’t like courts,” Kennett told Melbourne’s SEN radio.
“I do think there is a circuit-breaker.
“If I was the AFL Commission I would say to Essendon `You do whatever you like. But if this is not resolved by the end of November, you will not as a team be competing next year.’
“We are not going to have 17 clubs and the reputation of our code become the top priority next year when we’re trying to play a competition.
“It’s just too costly.
“The AFL and Essendon are dragging down the reputation of the code.”
Kennett said the Bombers had failed their players.
“Essendon, right from the word go, have failed in a duty of care to their players,” Kennett said.
“For that, whether the CEO knew or didn’t know, the coach, the assistant coach, the football manager all should have been dismissed or stood down.”
Essendon chief executive Ian Robson resigned in May and chairman David Evans followed in July, along with high performance manager Dean Robinson.
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