KEY QUOTES FROM THE DAY ESSENDON PLAYERS WERE FOUND NOT GUILTY OF DOPING
JAMES HIRD APOLOGISES
“I am so sorry for anything that’s happened, for anything that’s been done wrong to our players or been done wrong to our football club.
“I, and we, would never do anything intentionally to harm this football club … to harm the game of AFL football that’s given me so much and given so many people so much.
“I love the game, I love the club and I just can’t wait for the rest of the year to coach football and just get back into it again.”
HIRD ON HIS LOWEST POINT
“The day when basically the AFL suggested that we’d taken performance-enhancing drugs.
“The AFL were quite concerned or certain that our players had taken performance-enhancing drugs.
“That was a very low period because for us.
HIRD ON JAMES HIRD
“Whether I believe I deserve one (apology) or not, I don’t think one is going to come.
“It’s not today (that I tell my story) because we have a game and there has been a lot of criticism that this has been about me and I am not going to open that up again.”
WELCOME RELIEF FOR BOMBERS SKIPPER JOBE WATSON
“We want to go to bed at night and not have it the last thing we think of and the first thing we think of when we wake up.
“We want to be able to play this game that we loved playing when we were kids and we want our supporters to be proud of us.”
STEPHEN DANK LETS RIP AT ASADA
“They’ve been very, very poor in their conduct, execution and understanding of this whole investigation.
“The players never took anything that was illegal or anything that was against the WADA-prohibited list.
“The players were not guilty of anything. I’m very happy for the players.”
AFL CEO GILLON MCLACHLAN ON WHAT HAPPENED AT ESSENDON
“Judgment and evidence should give no-one any joy about what happened in our competition in 2012.
“It has been the AFL’s view and the view of Essendon’s own internal report that the players were victims of a reckless program.
“Given the evidence the AFL collected, the ASADA interim report and Essendon’s own report, it was clear that breaches of the AFL rules had occurred.”
UNDER FIRE ASADA BOSS BEN MCDEVITT SLAMS ESSENDON
“What happened at Essendon in 2012 was, in my opinion, absolutely and utterly disgraceful.
“It was not a supplements program but an injection regime and the players and the fans were so poorly let down by the club.
AFLPA CEO PAUL MARSH DOES THE SAME
“This decision does not absolve the Essendon Football Club of blame.
“Players were placed in an unacceptable position that put their health and careers at risk. :
MCLACHLAN REFUSES TO APOLOGISE TO ESSENDON PLAYERS WHEN ASKED
“I feel for the players over this long period of time – you could see the anguish on Jobe Watson’s face today.
“It’s been a very difficult period for them.
“The players have had a terrible 26 months and I know they’re looking forward to playing the game.”
ESSENDON BOSS PAUL LITTLE ISSUES THE DEFINITIVE LAST WORD
“With the information we have, we know there was nothing given to the players that was harmful or illegal and I would remind everyone in this room that no Essendon player has failed a drug test.”
