Having already charged Essendon with engaging in "conduct unbecoming or likely to prejudice the interests or reputation of the Australian Football League or bring the game of football into disrepute", the League released the statement of the grounds for laying the charge.

 

The statement includes a 34-page summary of evidence that has been compiled since the investigation into Essendon's supplement program began in February. The information released on Wednesday relates directly to the charge levelled against the club. Four of its staff members, James Hird, Mark Thompson, Danny Corcoran and Dr Bruce Reid, have also been charged with bringing the game into disrepute.

 

The investigators found that the Bombers oversaw a supplements program that may have seen their players given banned substances during 2011 and 2012 and that poor record-keeping and poor supervision of the supplement program means the club does not know exactly what the players took.

 

- Hird was warned by ASADA and the AFL about the dangers of peptides.

- Had the supplements program continued as planned, 26,000 injections would have been administered to Essendon players.

- It is "reasonably likely" that some Essendon players were administered with Thymosin Beta-4, which is prohibited by the AFL Anti-Doping Code and the World Anti-Doping Code.

- 34 players were injected with a drug sourced in Mexico by a person suffering from muscular dystrophy.

 

Talks between the AFL and Essendon regarding a negotiated settlement before the finals had broken down. Andrew Demetriou said last week he was eager to release the full charge sheet, adding on Wednesday that: "there must be transparency and clarity around this issue given the widespread speculation since the charges were announced on August 13".

The Bombers came out swinging. "The announcement by ambush confirms the AFL is running an agenda which continues to call into question its impartiality," Hird said at a hastily convened press conference. "My position is the same today as it was yesterday and in previous weeks. That is, I will contest the charges." Essendon chairman Paul Little described the League's action as "belligerent." To put it bluntly, Essendon and the AFL are at war.

 

The Bombers say the document made public on Wednesday by the AFL was the first one that the club was presented with. They say that after a period of negotiation, the League agreed to soften some of the harshest wording, although the revised document was then also rejected by Essendon. The League responded by releasing the original document.

It seems not. On Tuesday evening, sports medicine specialist Andrew Garnham, who is now working as a consultant with Essendon, told Fox Footy that ASADA had advised him in February 2013 that AOD-9064 was not a banned substance. But ASADA boss Aurora Andruska responded by saying AOD-9604 was a banned substance under the WADA code. Andruska reiterated that ASADA had never advised any party otherwise. "AOD-9604 is not approved for human use and logically it couldn't be considered safe to use," he said.

 

This is unclear. When AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou fronted the media on Wednesday afternoon he said: "If they require further time – as we have consistently stated – that will be granted to a date to be determined." But the Bombers' response to the day's proceedings suggest they won't be fronting up at AFL House any time soon. Demetriou also said that the option was still available to the club and others to front the Commission.

 

Essendon could be stripped of premiership points and/or draft picks. The club could also be heavily fined. The four club officials who have been charged – Hird, Thompson, Corcoran and Reid – could be suspended.

 

No findings have been made against the players at this stage, but the ASADA investigation into whether they were given banned substances is continuing.

 

It is impossible to imagine that this sorry saga will be sorted out in the next two weeks, so it seems certain that Essendon will take part in the finals.