Andrew Dillon was the AFL’s General Counsel throughout the whole saga. Although, Dillon reported to Demetriou, he liaised with the commissioners and McLachlan.
As General Counsel, Dillon was the chief legal officer of the AFL and was responsible for overseeing all legal matters and ensuring compliance with all laws and regulations.
Dillon provided legal counsel to the executive team and management on various issues, including corporate governance, regulatory compliance and risk management.
In addition, professional experts such as Dillon are held to account to the standards and ethics of their own profession that CANNOT be eroded or ignored by the commercial or other organisational hierarchy. Doctors, lawyers, accountants and human resource specialists, etcetera, are all sworn to codes of conduct that is core and conditional to their accreditation.
Consequently, the buck stopped with Dillon. He was tasked with ensuring that neither the commissioners nor senior executives acted unlawfully. Holding such a position meant that it was extremely unlikely that he, unlike the aforementioned, would ever transgress. As a layman, I have no idea whether he did transgress but one of his actions definitely needs examining.
i. Stewart Crameri was one of the 34 Essendon players who was charged with being administered Thymosin Beta-4. Stewart’s mother Amanda Cameri and I exchanged 208 emails during the saga. We both supplied unknown information to each other. We exchanged a number of emails on 17 and 18 January 2015. One involved Andrew Dillon. Inter alia, At 3:56pm, on 17 January 2015, Mrs Crameri emailed me as follows: “Hello Bruce, Stewart just rang – the tribunal is looking very depressing. Stewart’s lawyers are advising him to take a deal. This is information came from Stewart’s lawyers in the last 24 hours. Regards Mandy”
ii. 17 January 2015: 4:56pm: “Hi Bruce, ok – now that I have got over the shock of the phone call – I will tell you a bit more. So, ASADA are in control and the evidence to exonerate the boys is just not being aired/or is not there. ASADA have said – ‘only evidence is that Thymosin Beta 4 (the illegal one) was at the club.’ Stewart’s lawyers suggest that the boys are looking at a ban of between 8 weeks and full season. Peter Gordon told Dillon, ‘that is just not on, what else have you got for Stewart?’ Then a deal was offered – ‘from now through NAB Cup and two weeks into the season.’ They have decided to contact the Port Adelaide boys to try and get them to join Stewart, so Stewart is not alone. Peter Gordon, as he is finding a way to pay for Stewart’s lawyers, has the final say and shows me that ASADA are still playing dirty. Everyone is being shafted yet again. I am mortified. Tell Tim Watson – they need to know how they are dividing the group again.” Regards Amanda.
iii. 18 January 2015: 11:12am: “Hi Mrs Crameri, I am still very confident no such evidence exists. Stewart has to ask his lawyers what proof ASADA offered that Thymosin Beta-4 was at the club. I know nothing about the law. But I wonder whether Peter Gordon is acting appropriately. He is not Stewart’s lawyer. I wonder whether he should know what is happening. I suspect that the fact he has organised the money to pay the lawyers is irrelevant. From what I know about the evidence, the AFL is trying to divide them. I think Fitzpatrick, McLachlan and Dillon believe if two players plead guilty it gets the AFL of-the-hook. As I have said, I know nothing about the law but I can’t accept Peter Gordon has the final say. The people I have spoken to believe it is incomprehensible that the lawyers are recommending a deal prior to refuting the evidence. Bruce.
I have no idea whether Dillon acted inappropriately in his alleged negotiations with Peter Gordon over the two-week competition ban. I suspect that offering Stewart Crameri a deal was tantamount to asking him to perjure himself, which could possibly be a criminal offence.
In pleading guilty to being administered Thymosin Beta-4 as per Dillon’s alleged request, Crameri would have been perjuring himself because on many occasions, including in his ASADA interview, he denied being administered Thymosin Beta-4.
Res ipsa loquitur, there were severe consequences for Dillon, the AFL, Crameri and the other 33 Essendon players:
i. Crameri pleading guilty would have enabled the AFL and ASADA to imply that the other 33 players were also guilty of being administered Thymosin Beta-4.
ii. Presumably, the 33 players and Stephen Dank, all of whom had denied using or being administered Thymosin Beta-4, would have sued Dillon, the AFL and Crameri for defamation. The onus would have been on Dillon, the AFL and Crameri to metaphorically, turn water into wine by producing documents that didn’t exist, that Dank took possession of Thymosin Beta-4.
iii. Dillon and the AFL would have been destroyed by the government, the media, ASADA, WADA, AOC president John Coates and the other 17 clubs for imposing a light sentence of two games for a major doping breach. In my view, if the players were guilty, a four-year suspension should have applied.
iv. It’s anyone’s guess whether Crameri’s lawyer Patrick Gordon breached any laws by trying to persuade Crameri to plead guilty when Crameri had told him on numerous occasions that he hadn’t been administered Thymosin Beta-4.
Essendon AFL Drug Saga 