Essendon great Tim Watson says he sympathises with the woman who claimed to be the mother of a Bombers player and gave an emotional interview on Melbourne radio, because he and his wife Susie had been living with the same fears throughout the club's supplements scandal.

Watson on Friday morning responded to a column written by Fairfax Media's chief football writer Caroline Wilson that said a "terribly conflicted" Watson had not been representing the true views of the players' parents.

A woman, who did not use her real name and was referred to only as "Sarah", rang Triple M on Thursday morning to voice her anger at Essendon and coach James Hird and to express the fears she felt for her son in the face of the possibility of being injected with unknown substances.

Watson, whose son is the Bombers' skipper Jobe, said he did not view himself as a spokesperson for the players' families and only attended club briefings, such as last Tuesday night when he spoke to the media when the session had finished, because Susie wanted him with her.

Watson, who Wilson acknowledged frequently admits his conflicted interests, has publicly supported his former club and Hird, although on Thursday morning he suggested for the first time that Hird should step down if he could no longer adequately complete his job as coach.