Contacted by the Herald Sun, Dank offered a flat denial to the question of whether he gave Essendon players banned performance-enhancing drugs.
Pressed further by the newspaper, Dank again replied, "No."
Associates have rallied behind Dank, with Tony Doherty, the owner of Doherty's Gyms, saying Dank knew the boundaries and when not to cross them.
"He would know the legalities of every substances," Doherty said.
"When people hear the word injections they go into a frenzy."
However, Fairfax Media paints a less rosy picture, reporting that convicted drug trafficker Shane Charter, a biochemist who calls himself Dr Ageless, has allegedly supplied Dank with potentially banned supplements sourced in Asia.
Fairfax claims the supplements provided to Dank cost $30,000 and Dank parted ways with the Bombers once the club discovered the unauthorised expenditure.
Charter reportedly has a past association with Brownlow medalists Ben Cousins and Shane Woewodin, as well as former Olympic swimmer Scott Miller. AFL.com.au does not suggest that association was inappropriate.
He was arrested in 2004 in Victoria for possession of 10,000 pseudoephedrine-based tablets, the precursor chemical used to make speed. He later pleased guilty and served a prison sentence.
It also emerged that at their AFL-convened drugs summit in Melbourne last week, club chief executives were told by the Australian Federal Police of the growing prevalence in Australia of peptides and other human growth hormone like substances.
