Essendon's high performance manager Stuart Cormack departs the club after a reported philosophical clash with the club's coaching department, including senior assistant coach Mark Thompson.
Cormack had been at the Bombers for three years and had been renowned as an industry leader after previously having success as West Coast's fitness boss.
August, 2011
Essendon appoints Dean Robinson as the new high performance coach.
Robinson left his role as the Gold Coast's high performance coach in the club's debut season and returns to Melbourne, where he takes up the post at Essendon.
Robinson also had experience at Geelong, forging a relationship with Thompson. Before joining the AFL ranks, Robinson's expertise was in the NRL with the Sydney Roosters and the Manly Sea Eagles.
December, 2011
Robinson's profile soars as he enters the club with an aim to build up the Bombers' strength and size from day one.
Robinson, nicknamed 'The Weapon', tells the Herald Sun of the club's plans to fast track the Bombers' "transformation" after the club's disappointing elimination final loss to Carlton in the 2011 finals series.
"At the end of the day when you do accelerate people and you do push them you find weaknesses. In the first four weeks we wanted to find the weaknesses and once we found them we could strengthen them.
"They've already put size on and that was something we did at Geelong where some of those guys put on seven kilos in seven weeks and it was functional mass."
"I think there was a massive gap and Carlton showed that massive gap when we played them in that elimination final.
"We'll be much improved. I've got older guys, senior players, excited about the way they're transforming their bodies and the power they're feeling over the ground."
February, 2012
Essendon's NAB Cup game against St Kilda in Wangaratta is abandoned after the Bombers' chartered planes fail several attempts to land in inclement conditions.
The club is criticised for its decision to fly to the game, rather than take the bus, so it could return to Melbourne as soon as possible to prepare for a six-day turnaround for a game against the Sydney Swans the following week.
"Through a whole bunch of arrangements, that were put in place literally a couple of weeks ago, that were AFL-endorsed, we were always going to come up by plane today and get back tonight," chief executive Ian Robson says.
March-August, 2012
The Bombers' summer of strength and conditioning appears to have been a success, with the club winning eight of its first nine games and playing an imposing brand of football in the first half of the season.
Despite Essendon's strong form, there are concerns over the club's rapidly growing soft-tissue injury toll.
By the end of the season, more than half of the senior list had suffered a soft-tissue injury, leading to a demoralising seven-consecutive defeats to end the season.
"I don't think you can call it a fluke, considering we have had so many of them,'' Hird tells 3AW in July.
"We are having a good look at our program at the moment to see what we could have done differently? Why are we getting them?
"There's certainly a lot of theories flying around, as to why we are getting them.
"That's my job to narrow them down and work out exactly why and come to a conclusion and make some decisions on how we get better in that area.
"I'm not sure of the exact total of how many we've had this year but it's far too many and it's very hard for our players to perform to the level they want to when their mates are dropping down around them.''
Brownlow medallist and Essendon captain Jobe Watson is one of only two Bombers to play every game of the year, with almost every other key player, including Patrick Ryder, David Zaharakis and Michael Hurley, suffering debilitating muscle strains.
September, 2012
Football manager Paul Hamilton quits the club after five seasons at Windy Hill, leaving Danny Corcoran to fill the void in 2013.
Corcoran, with a background in sports fitness, is believed to take more of a hands-on approach in the club's high performance area.
It is revealed Essendon's sports scientist Stephen Dank – a colleague of Robinson's at sporting clubs in the past – will depart following the Bombers' horror injury-riddled season.
January, 2013
Jobe Watson fronts the media at the club's new high performance base at Melbourne Airport and notes how a number of Bombers have changed their approach to be leaner in 2013.
"A few guys have been conscious of getting a bit lighter with the game moving a little bit more to an endurance style," he says.
"The most pleasing thing is the numbers we have training at the moment. I think there's maybe only one or two who aren't able to complete it and even they're only a few weeks away.
"Just to be able to get the work into the group is probably the biggest difference to 12 months ago."
February 5, 2013
Following weeks of speculation, Hird, Robson and Evans convene at AFL House after contacting the AFL and the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) to launch an immediate investigation into supplement use at the club.
Evans says concerning information in the preceding two days had been the catalyst for approaching the AFL.
"Of course this is a very distressing time for our club, our executive, our players and our board. We believe as a club that we have done everything right to be compliant with the rules and regulations of the AFL and ASADA," he says.
"But the integrity of the club is critical to the people sitting at this table and, of course, for the broader Essendon family. And that is why we have moved quickly today to call the AFL and ASADA to seek a clean bill of health."
Hird says he is "shocked."
"As a coach I take full responsibility for what happens in our footy department.
"If there have been goings on within our football department that are not right we want to know.
"But it's my belief though that we have done everything right and that … the supplements that our players were given … were all approved and within the regulations that we all play the games by."
Dean Robinson is stood down pending the investigation.
February 11, 2013
Stephen Dank, the man at the centre of the scandal, speaks publicly for the first time, saying coach James Hird was aware of the supplement program the club had in place.
Dank, a biochemist, told ABC television's 7.30 there was no intravenous application of peptides and that any peptides within formulations given to players were "very, very legal" under the WADA code.
February 27, 2013
Evans announces the club will launch an independent and external review of its "irregular practices" in 2012.
The commissioned review is to be headed by former Telstra chief executive Dr Ziggy Switkowski.
"We just want to get to the heart of what happened – we think the members are owed that," Evans said.
March 22, 2013
Essendon opens its season with a courageous 35-point win against Adelaide at AAMI Stadium, underlining claims from players the crisis has galvanised the Bombers.
April 12, 2013
The Bombers continue their unbeaten start to the season with an emotion-charged comeback win over Fremantle at Patersons Stadium.
The win came only days after it was revealed Dank claimed Hird had used supplements at the club last year.
Emails also revealed in the lead-up to the game showed Hird had instructed the high performance team at the club last year to not cross the line with its supplement program.
After the win, Hird told his players he was "proud" of their efforts.
"Anything is possible if you continue to play with that hunger and train with that hunger," Hird said in vision aired on the club's The Hangar show.
"I'm so proud of you, I thank you so much. I personally...just thank you, thank you."
May 6, 2013
Switkowski's review into the club is released, revealing "a disturbing picture of a pharmacologically experimental environment never adequately controlled or challenged or documented within the club".
The report shows a lack of internal governance, practices and procedures.
It also highlights a disconnect between the responsibilities of former football manager Paul Hamilton and current one Danny Corcoran.
Switkowski says "there was a lack of clarity about who was in charge of the football department."
Evans announces he will stand for re-election as chairman at the end of the year despite earning a three-year term at the end of 2012.
"I am chairman of the board, this has happened under my watch," he said.
