The buck stops with Essendon coach James Hird. Picture: Wayne Ludbey Source: Herald Sun
MAKE absolutely no mistake - you will be caught. That's the promise from AFL headquarters after the Australian Crime Commission's explosive revelations regarding drug cheats in Australian sport.
Problem is we've heard it all before. And despite boasting world's best practice in the fight against drugs, the reality is the AFL has anything but.
Its Integrity Unit established in 2008 to protect the game has proven to be insipid at best, an abject failure at worst.
The AFL has not fumbled the ball, it has lost sight of it. The game of Australian rules at the highest level has rarely been in worse shape.
It beggars belief that the practices revealed at Essendon Football Club this week by the Melbourne media could have gone unnoticed by everyone at AFL House. This is surely a case of gross negligence by trusted members of the game's governing body and those heads must be held accountable as much as those involved with the administering of substances legal or otherwise.
The AFL says ignorance is no defence for players choosing to put unknown substances in their body. It can be no defence for them either.
Sadly the first head to roll might have to be one the biggest in the game.
James Hird, coach of Essendon, must be held to account for his role in the debacle at Windy Hill even if the substances involved are found to be legal. That he has allowed his players, almost to a man, to be used like guinea pigs without comprehension of what he was asking them to do is the worst football decision he will make and it could be a career changer.
It was not long ago the Brisbane Lions were banned from intravenously rehydrating their players under medical supervision because it wasn't a good look for the game.
Off-site injecting rooms have far greater implications and cannot go unpunished.
Despite suggestions injections were not forced on players, mob mentality is strong inside a football change room and young players would have felt obliged to participate in the practice after their coach condoned it.
It is abuse of his position at the very least - and the sight of Essendon's press conference with chairman, CEO and coach minus any Bomber logos, colours or sponsors was clear indication their issue is far greater than suspect supplements.
The AFL has pleaded for voluntary confessions rather than forced ones, so Hird may well be best served falling on his sword and admitting misuse of his powers in the hope of returning to the game in some fashion in the not-too-distant future.
By Hird's own admission as coach the buck stops with him. The 253-game dual-premiership player, Brownlow medallist, Norm Smith medallist, five-time All-Australian, AFL hall of famer and former club captain might have to make one more sacrifice for his team in the hope others follow suit.
Australians are by nature a forgiving mob to those that admit fault and in time Hird will be welcomed back with open arms, but choose the Lance Armstrong method of deny, deny, deny and in the public's eye a life sentence could await.
As powerful as the ACC's findings were, talk is cheap and villains must be identified and, where appropriate, arrests must follow.
The sporting public of Australia is currently left with more questions than answers. Quick action by the law enforcers is needed to protect the innocent as much as to catch the guilty.
Thursday February 7, 2013, has been labelled the blackest day in Australian sport history.
A nation so proud of its sports heroes has been left to question every one of them and every team they cheer.
AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou pleaded with fans yesterday "not to lose faith in the sport".
Too late, she cried, for some.
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