''I have at all times fully adhered to, and promoted the WADA code and the AFL rules, and the code of ethics of the Essendon Football Club.'' Essendon coach James Hird. Credit:Sebastian Costanzo Fairfax Media can reveal that WADA's List Committee of Experts panel recently told Australia's sports doping agency, ASADA, that AOD9604 should be considered as a prohibited substance under one of its controversial catch-all rules. In an exclusive interview, the club's former sports scientist Stephen Dank confirmed he gave players an extract from pig's brain used to treat Alzheimer's, the first milk from a mother cow and a bark extract. But he has stressed that nothing he gave players was prohibited. Dank also stressed the supplements were safe for human use even though they were not listed as approved by regulators.

Essendon chairman David Evans has vowed to deal with ''any official [who] has failed in their duty of care to the players'', while the club's legal team has hit back at WADA's assertion AOD9604 was prohibited when players used it. Governance and player welfare failings at Essendon may result in the AFL charging the club or its senior officials with improper conduct or bringing the game into disrepute. Dank has claimed that at Essendon, Hird strongly supported his work and encouraged him to push the boundaries. According to Dank, the pair spoke and texted regularly and he was told by Hird he was in the coach's "inner sanctum". In information verified by Fairfax Media, Hird was given specific details about supplements being injected into players and the practice of giving injured or older players more supplements.

Controversial practices include the exclusion of the club's part-time doctor, Bruce Reid, from key decisions on player health and using external doctors to sign off on requests to test player's blood or inject players. Essendon lawyers will challenge any bid to penalise players for using AOD9604, saying that the Australian Crime Commission's report on doping stated it was not banned and that advice given to the club by ASADA confirmed this. Records of Hird and Danks' dealings reveal that the coach knew specific details about the supplement regime, including the intravenous administration of vitamins and injections into the stomach or oral administration of other supplements, including an immune-booster known as a thymosin. As well as taking many of the supplements used by his players, Dank says he injected Hird with hexarelin-a drug that may increase human growth hormone levels and which WADA has banned since 2004. Dank said he discussed the use of hexarelin with Hird "at length."

"He asked me if players could use it and I said no. Mind you, he wasn't the only coach who was a regular user of it," Dank said. It is understood Hird has claimed he did not know what he was injected with. Dank said Hird also took Melanotan II, a drug popular among bodybuilders because of its tanning effect and claims it aids sleeping and libido. Dank defended the use of hexarelin or other supplements by Hird and other football department staff. "They were using something to give them a bit of lift to help with the stresses of their job. It was something they were well entitled to do. It is not a bad example. It is medicine," he said. While not commenting on any specific club or sport, ASADA chief Aurora Andruska said that irrespective of whether a substance is banned by WADA, the use of supplements not approved for human use posed a "major health risk." The supplement program exposed players to products which risked breaching doping laws, often had unproven or uncertain health effects and, while able to be taken in some circumstances, are not listed as "approved" by the Therapeutic Goods Administration.

When Dank worked at NRL club Cronulla in 2011, some players were given supplements, including CJC1295, which stimulate the body's production of human growth hormones and which WADA has also deemed banned. The fact that players were given substances WADA says are banned does not mean they will necessarily be found guilty of doping or sanctioned as they may argue they were inadvertently doped. Essendon's claim that it was provided different advice by ASADA in relation to AOD, and the attitude taken by some NRL clubs to ASADA's inquiries, suggest that at least some of the agency's anti-doping cases will face heated legal and scientific challenge if pursued. None of the Essendon players were aware what they took was banned and Dank maintains he has always stayed within WADA's code. Dank has revealed he was put under pressure at the club to import sheep placental cells from overseas to use in players in 2013, a plan scrapped when he was sacked from Essendon late last year after a dispute about the expensive methods he recommended and used.

Essendon players spent over $50,000 being treated at a hyperbaric chamber in South Yarra run by Dr Mal Hooper. When asked why thymosin peptides were given to players as an immune system booster when there is debate about their effectiveness, Dank said: "Well, apart from the fact that we won 11 out of our first 14 games … at the end of the day, I was very happy with the science." Dank said he gave players anti-obesity drug AOD9604 to help them recover from arduous training or games and, in comments backed by experts, he dismissed suggestions AOD is performance enhancing. Dank has dismissed the suggestion his program wasn't authorised by the relevant officials, including Essendon CEO Ian Robson and senior manager Danny Corcoran. Dank worked most closely with club fitness guru Dean Robinson, who brought the sports scientist to Essendon, and Hird. "Well Danny [Corcoran] certainly knew everything as he needed to," said Dank, while pointing out that club officials pushed for him to bring supplements on a pre-season camp at the Gold Coast.

Dank first used anti-obesity drug AOD at NRL club Manly in 2010 and again at Essendon. WADA's expert panel has advised Australian authorities that AOD falls under a catch-all clause in anti-doping laws that prohibits the use of supplements not approved by any regulator for therapeutic use. Players were also given alzheimer's drug cerebrolysin, which is extracted from pig's brain and has the potential to increase alertness. Many of the supplements used at Essendon are still undergoing clinical trials and are not approved by the TGA. They may be lawfully used if sourced from a compounding pharmacist. Dank sourced most of his supplements for use at Essendon from a South Yarra compounding chemist Nima Alavi. Loading

Asked about the use of bovine colustrum in players, which is produced by a cow immediately after giving birth, Dank said that it was high in various proteins. "There is some very, very good data supporting it. There is some data not so supportive to be honest." He said "if I have to wait for an absolute blueprint piece of scientific literature" he would end up using nothing on players.