Here's the full 48 page judgement from CAS.
http://www.tas-cas.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Arbitral_Award_WADA_ESSENDON.pdfSome of the Bomber players' evidence is hilarious just for their own stupidity
. Such as McVeigh claiming he was given some other non-prohibited substance instead (that had a tanning effect) yet he experienced no tanning
. I thought it was only Vitamin injections wasn't it, Mark
.
Effectively,
* CAS was satisfied that Dank had a history of using TB-4 peptides in athletic programs.
* CAS was satisfied that Dank was in possession of TB-4 vials at Essendon.
* Evidence (from a Dr Cox that was not available at the AFL hearing) was given showing the only possible Thymosin used in the injection regime was the banned TB-4. The legal 'alpha' version isn't used for recovery and soft-tissue repair (it's an immune booster).
* A guy called Mr. Del Vecchio (from a business called Australian Medical Solutions) had told Dank that the peptides he was giving the Essendon players were prohibited.
* Players were given blood tests prior to the regime - a process recommended for peptides such as TB-4 and for no other purpose than a "sinister one".
* The whole program was kept a secret and was only known to a "closed circle" (Dank, Hird, Robinson & the players) which wanted no outsiders to know about it including keeping the club doctor (Reid) out of the loop. Not only that but no records were kept to keep it a secret. Whereas the AFL hearing used this lack of record keeping as a means to say they could not be comfortably satisfied to hand out a guilty verdict; CAS saw this non-existent record-keeping and secrecy as an admission of those at Essendon of having something dodgy to hide.
* The players were aware they were to be injected with Thymosin and signed consent forms.
* The players were complicit due to their own behaviour and because they followed instructions to keep the program a secret, kept the club doctor out of the loop, and failed to record injections on doping control forms.
* Several Bomber players also had their credibility questioned when they stated Dank wasn't present at away matches until confronted with a text message stating he was
.
* CAS saw Essendon's run of 8 wins from 9 games at the beginning of the 2012 season before soft-tissue injuries hit, while not being proof, as being consistent with the conclusion of substance taking.
