Essendon coach James Hird has hit out at what he calls innuendo, half-truths and lies spread about him and his AFL club over the supplements saga.

Hird has maintained a straight bat throughout the ongoing five-month ASADA investigation into his club’s suspect supplements program in 2012.

But after a week of having sand kicked in his face – among the claims being described as the architect of the program – an emotional Hird went on a measured defensive on Friday.

“There’s been some truth put out there, but the constant innuendo, rhetoric, half-truths and probably lies that have been spun about the club, the players, the great people that work here, and the half-truths, rhetoric and lies that have been spun about myself have been very hurtful and very damaging,” Hird said.

“It’s very hard when you keep looking at the hurtful and damaging nature of those comments.”