Melbourne faces an immediate grilling from the AFL and ASADA after the club’s links to the man at the centre of the Australian sports anti-doping investigation were revealed.
AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou admitted on Thursday he is concerned about “inconsistencies and omissions” in what Melbourne told the AFL when quizzed about any involvement with former Essendon sports scientist Stephen Dank.
He deemed it a “very, very serious matter”.
The Demons had denied employing Dank – both publicly and to the AFL.
On Thursday night, the ABC’s 7.30 Report claimed to have text messages between Melbourne’s club doctor Dan Bates and Dank stretching back to mid-2012.
Several Demons players were named in the messages, which suggest a supplements regime at the club that Dank was involved in.
None of the substances mentioned in the Melbourne text messages are banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
Demetriou said Bates would be called before AFL and Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) investigators on Friday over the claims.
He said once Essendon was embroiled in the Australian sports doping row in February, all AFL clubs were asked the extent of any involvement with Dank.
The AFL is now urgently seeking answers on whether Melbourne told everything it knew at the time.
“I’m more concerned about the issue of the omissions of things that have been told to us and also concerned about the inconsistencies of things that have been told to us,” Demetriou told Melbourne radio station 3AW on Friday.
“That is a very, very serious matter.”
Demetriou refused to disclose which Melbourne officials the AFL had asked about any involvement with Dank.
“We asked the specific question that the media had asked: ‘Was Stephen Dank approached or did Stephen Dank approach Melbourne or was there discussion around employment at the Melbourne Football Club?
“We got the same answer the public got.
“We know who we asked. I can tell you the people we asked are people in authority who didn’t give us the answers.”
Demetriou said the first he knew of a deeper link between the Demons and Dank was while watching the ABC television program.
In a lengthy statement on Friday morning, Melbourne said there was no evidence any of its supplements breached the WADA drug code, and that Dank never directly treated players nor worked directly for the club.
But it admitted Bates and Dank had been in communication prior to the launch of ASADA’s investigation into Essendon, though Bates always had the final say in any treatment for Demons players.
“At no time was Dank able to directly treat players,” Melbourne said in its statement.
“Dank and Dr Bates communicated via email, phone and text, regarding supplements (prior to the ASADA investigation).
“Our processes require Dr Bates to consider the appropriateness of any treatment and make a determination as to its suitability at all times, to ensure that the welfare of our players is always maintained.”
The ABC alleges the text messages between Dank and Bates continued until the day Essendon fronted a media conference to reveal they had concerns over their supplements program and Dank’s work at that club.