AFL club Melbourne have batted away questions over concerns about possible player use of an anti-obesity drug which is emerging as central to the Australian sports anti-doping probe.
Coach Mark Neeld said the Demons had received formal advice not to comment publicly on the supplements investigation which has engulfed them and AFL rivals Essendon.
Essendon have reportedly admitted some of their players used AOD-9604 in 2012 – an anti-obesity drug the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has now banned.
The Herald Sun says the Bombers have told investigators six players took the drug, which has not been approved for use anywhere in the world.
AOD-9604 falls into a WADA catch-all clause which states that as a non-approved substance, sportspeople found to have used it would receive a sanction.
The Demons were dragged into the saga after club doctor Dan Bates was alleged to have had links with former Essendon sports scientist Stephen Dank, the man central to the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority’s (ASADA) investigation involving AFL and NRL clubs and players.
The anti-obesity drug was mentioned in a series of alleged text messages between Bates and Dank.
“There’s an AFL and ASADA investigation going on, and everybody in the room knows that we cannot comment,” Neeld said on Thursday.
“We’ve got a letter that states we can’t make any comment so let’s just leave it at that.”
The Herald Sun said Essendon had relied on a document purported to have been issued by WADA approving use of the anti-obesity drug.
But former ASADA chief Richard Ings said neither WADA nor ASADA could have provided assurances on specific supplements, and the players themselves would be ultimately held responsible for banned drugs they had taken.
“The policy of WADA and ASADA is not to give advice on nutritional supplements because WADA and ASADA cannot guarantee that what’s contained in them does not include any known or unknown banned substances,” Ings told Melbourne radio station 3AW.
“If they (the players) have taken a banned substance, they’ve got a benefit over their peers who have not taken a banned substance and they’ll get a sanction of some degree.”
