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Dank: Essendon saga not over

Controversial sports scientist Stephen Dank is threatening to sue ‘everyone who has provided misinformation’ over the Essendon drugs saga.

The embattled AFL club were further punished for the supplements scandal last month when the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) upheld WADA’s appeal of the AFL anti-doping tribunal’s verdict on the club.

CAS banned 34 past and present Essendon players for the 2016 season.

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Of the 34, 12 remain on the club’s list, including stars Jobe Watson and Dyson Heppell, severely depleting Essendon’s ranks ahead of what is expected to be a particularly challenging season.

Dank, who refused to be interviewed by the AFL and the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) in their investigations, gave an interview to alternative Melbourne radio station 3RRR over the weekend.

Dank maintained he kept consistent records of Essendon’s supplements program – one he said was “robust in governance.”

Speaking to the Party Show, he added: “Certainly from my end, I believe there is proof that exists in terms of what the players took and that substantiates everything that I’ve said all the way along,”

When asked if he thought Essendon had removed some of the records he kept, Dank responded: “That’s been put to me by two people, two people who I believe are well placed to support that theory.”

Dank added that his lawyers were through in examining all evidence from AFL and ASADA hearings on the scandal – and that further legal action was a possibility.

“So what happens in the witness box when they can’t substantiate the evidence?” Dank asked.

“You’re going to have quite a number of pieces that will be refuted and proved to be refutable … that’s going to leave the AFL, the NRL and most importantly ASADA with very huge questions to answer.”

Dank also suggested Essendon did not have the ‘courage to stand up’ to the AFL during the saga.

“I think the problem was that, when a certain amount of pressure was applied from certain members at the top of the AFL chain, the Essendon Football Club had to remain, I guess, within the bear claws of the AFL instead of having the courage to stand up,” he said.

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