James Hird has served his time and is entitled to present the Norm Smith Medal at the AFL grand final, former Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority boss Richard Ings has said.
The league has invited Hird to present the showpiece game’s best-on-ground award on September 30 because, as the 2000 winner, it’s his turn.
Hird has had no official involvement with the game since departing as Essendon coach in 2015 after a doping scandal which resulted in 34 past and present players receiving year-long bans.
The ongoing fallout from the Bombers’ supplements debacle means Hird’s grand final involvement will be controversial, regardless of how routine it is.
“James Hird has not been found guilty of a doping offence under the AFL anti-doping rules,” Ings told AAP.
“So therefore any decision of the AFL to invite James Hird to present an award at the grand final is a matter up to the AFL and is perfectly allowed under AFL anti-doping rules.
“He was found in violation of code of conduct rules. He received a penalty and he served his penalty and that penalty is now concluded.
“Therefore he should be perfectly entitled to be involved in whatever aspect of AFL and AFL competition that he’s able to participate in.
“There shouldn’t be some sort of punitive, follow-up consequence above and beyond the consequence imposed by the tribunals that assess these matters.”
The AFL suspended Hird for 12 months towards the end of the 2013 season.
The two-time premiership winner indicated on Thursday he is keen to accept the league’s invitation.
Since 2004, the AFL has used the order of the Norm Smith medallists to determine who should be the presenter.
The 1989 winner Gary Ablett Snr is the only former winner to decline the invitation.
North Melbourne’s Shannon Grant, the 1999 Norm Smith winner, presented the medal at last year’s grand final to Western Bulldogs defender Jason Johannisen.
Hird’s former Essendon teammate Damien Hardwick, who now coaches at Richmond, said the AFL community should be ready to embrace Hird again.
“Footy is a pretty forgiving game and James is one of the all-time great players,” Hardwick said on Friday.
“He’s a great leader and a great friend of mine. From my point of view, (we should) wrap your arms around him and bring him back in.
“When everyone has an error in life, we’ve just got to make sure we continue to wrap our arms around people and get them involved in the game.”
