The AFL anti-doping tribunal has savaged Essendon over the club’s 2012 supplements program and said there was too much reliance on Stephen Dank.

The comments are contained in the tribunal’s findings, a document of more than 130 pages which was handed down on Tuesday afternoon.

The tribunal cleared 34 current and past Essendon players in a landmark verdict.

So far, the findings are only available to the parties and it is up to the players whether they officially become public.

But The Age quoted extracts on Tuesday night.

The tribunal said there was a “deplorable absence of records in the program relating to its administration” at Essendon.

“It is the responsibility of the club to ensure that complete and accurate records are kept”.

One of the key features of the Essendon supplements scandal is the players still do not know what substances they took in the program.

The tribunal said the consent forms that players signed were “alarmingly inadequate” and took issue with the role of Dank, the sports scientist who ran the program.

Dank is also before the tribunal for allegedly violating the anti-doping code and his verdict will be known after Easter.

“One of the players said in his interview that Mr Dank acted as if he was God,” the judgment read.

“It seems that he was treated as if he was God in relation to the supplements program.”

“It’s clear the players had no actual knowledge of the substance with which they were injected.

The tribunal also found that club doctor Bruce Reid was effectively bypassed.

“The tribunal concludes that the supplement program was not of the standard and rigour one would expect from an elite football club like Essendon,” the findings read.

“There was far too much reliance on Mr Dank,” the judgment read.

“All in all there appears to be an unquestioning reliance on Mr Dank.

“From time to time issues were raised with him and his explanations were accepted and he continued his injection regime.”

The tribunal found it could not be satisfied comfortably that the players took the banned substance thymosin beta-4.