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Bomb fails to explode but far from defused

Courtroom waltz: James Hird. Picture: Getty Images

This was no great surprise. But to put the not guilty verdicts for 34 Essendon players yesterday in context: a significant chapter has finished, but there is no guarantee the book on this sorry saga is closed.

The best line of defence for the players against charges that they took the banned drug thymosin beta-4 was their last line of defence: at the AFL tribunal.

This is why the waltzing in and out of courtrooms by the club and coach James Hird to try to derail the process was pointless.

It was always going to be tough for ASADA to prove a circumstantial case to the "comfortable satisfaction" of the tribunal.

There were no positive tests and ASADA was relying on a chain of evidence tracing the substance into the club and dosage rates as proof it entered players' bodies.

And here we get to a critical point in the case: even if ASADA could have shown that TB4 was given to a group of Essendon players, it had to show it was given to a specific player to prove the case against that player.

Multiply that 34 times and you get an inkling of the size of the task ASADA faced.

It was a fragile chain of evidence at the start and when bio-mechanist and drug importer Shane Charter, who allegedly procured the substance, and Nima Alavi, the chemist alleged to have compounded it, both refused to attend the tribunal, the chain was weakened further.

Throw in that the architect of Essendon's "supplements" regime Stephen Dank rejected outright the tribunal's right to judge him and was also absent and that Essendon kept woefully inadequate records of the whole fiasco and ASADA was facing an uphill battle.

What an irony. Essendon's negligence in being unable to show what its players took and the regime architect's total lack of co-operation assured the Bombers players of acquittals. What does it mean?

Don't assume it is over yet. ASADA has 21 days to appeal and may make an announcement either way as early as today. And its world governing body WADA could yet take this all of the way to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

If it does, don't assume the CAS will take the same view that the AFL tribunal did.

Definitely don't assume that watered-down suspensions would be offered to the players if it does get that far and the verdict changes. But that depends on the will of the doping police to pursue this further.

Also, don't assume the vindication of players from the tribunal extends to the club.

ASADA boss Ben McDevitt labelled Essendon's 2012 conduct "absolutely and utterly disgraceful" and said this was not a supplements program but an "injection regime".

A follow-up salvo came from AFL Players Association chief Paul Marsh: "This decision does not absolve the Essendon Football Club of blame. Players were placed in an unacceptable position that put their health and careers at risk."

Then came AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan: "It has been the AFL's view and the view of Essendon's own internal report that the players were victims of a reckless program, which has hung over the players and the competition for more than two years."

And even Bombers skipper Jobe Watson drove a point home to the Essendon hierarchy when he said it was a "concern" that players turned to their employer to find out what had happened and could not be told.

Finally, don't assume Dank will also be absolved. There is still a real possibility of a guilty finding for him later.

The tribunal might not be comfortably satisfied that any specific player took the drug, but may be comfortably satisfied that Dank gave the drug to some players. We wait to find out.

ASADA will face scrutiny for an unsuccessful prosecution two years in the making but the lessons here show our anti-doping watchdog remains under-resourced and light-on for coercive powers.

The absence of Charter, Alavi and Dank from the tribunal hearing reeks of a lack of power.

Also, the long delay from drug test to tribunal hearing in the Ryan Crowley case shows a personnel shortage.

If Australia wants to claim to be dinkum about stamping out drugs in sport, it needs to arm its watchdog body with the personnel and power it needs.