Essendon AFL Drug Saga

6. THE ANTI-DOPING REVIEW VIOLATION PANEL HEARING: 3 NOVEMBER 2014

  1. Four days before the ADRVP meeting, ASADA distributed 10,000 pages, including a document titled ‘CEO Recommendation Show Cause Pack’, to each ADRVP member.
  2. In response to my FOI 16-15 request for the 10,000 pages, ASADA said it was too onerous a task to vet the documents because it estimated it would take one minute a page to just read it, let alone redact parts. ASADA’s calculated that it would take 166 hours, without toilet stops, meals or sleep to read the 10,000 pages.
  3. As it transpired, ASADA mainly spoke to three documents to establish that it was possible the Essendon players were administered Thymosin Beta-4:
    •  ‘Notes for ADRVP Meeting’,
    • “Preparatory notes for ADRVP meeting”.
    • The CEO Recommendation Show Cause Pact
  4. As it emerged, ASADA admitted that there was no evidence that Dank or Essendon ever took possession of Thymosin Beta-4. There were no orders; no delivery records; no invoices; no payments; and, no dispensing records.
  5. Furthermore, in clause 93 of his 11 January 2015 affidavit, Staffer 7 said: “The key question is what was the source of the Thymosin; and when (if at all) (my emphasis) it was delivered – and in what coloured vial?”
  6. Clearly, Staffer 7’s comment “if at all” (my emphasis) implies ASADA had no evidence that Thymosin of any variety was ever delivered to Dank or Essendon.
  7. ASADA made no attempt to prove that Thymosin Beta-4 was a WADA prohibited substance. As it transpired, WADA listed Thymosin Beta-4 by name as a prohibited substance on 1 January 2018.
  8. Sport Integrity Australia’s (SIA) Sally Cook notified me on 27 July 2020 that on 30 September 2017, SIA had been sent the WADA 2018 List of Prohibited Substances and Methods along with the 2018 Summary of Major Modifications and Explanatory Notes that would be effective on 1 January 2018. (my emphasis). The Summary of Major Modifications included the statement: “Thymosin β4 was added as example of prohibited growth factors.” (my emphasis).
  9. ASADA had to prove Thymosin was Thymosin Beta-4. Thymosin was mentioned many times. Thymosin Beta-4 was mentioned once in 16,884 texts and e-mails collected by ASADA. Thymosin Beta-4 has 43 amino acids in a specified sequence. It was never tested because there was no proof it was ever delivered. Thymosin also was never tested, so, it was impossible to determine whether it had 43 amino acids in the same sequence as Thymosin Beta-4.
  10. Despite being required to make a case against each of the 34 players that it was possible he was administered Thymosin Beta-4, ASADA failed to do so. Res ipsa loquitur, if there were no evidence either Dank or Essendon ever took possession of a form of Thymosin, no player could have been administered it.
    Thymosin Beta-4 contains 43 amino acids in the below sequence. If one amino acid is missing or the sequence changes once, it is not Thymosin Beta-4.