The doors just keep closing on Stephen Dank and his empty threats. On Monday and Tuesday the disgraced sport scientist endured mixed fortunes with little promise of significant reward in one of his alleged 24 defamation cases. And in doing so, Dank reminded this country just how much danger and risk his search-and-destroy mission inflicted upon Australian sport.

The ongoing fallout from Dank's ruinous season at Essendon was evident again on Sunday when the uncompetitive Bombers signified just how heavy a load the rest of the competition will carry again during 2016 due to the eradication of half the team's starting players.

The ongoing fallout from Dank's ruinous season at Essendon was evident again on Sunday. Credit:Getty Images

And on Monday came the horrific reminder that Dank had administered growth hormone-releasing peptides to a cancer sufferer.

Deliberating over a set of 2013 articles published in Sydney's Daily Telegraph which alleged Dank had accelerated the death of NRL player Jon Mannah, the four-person jury found – by declaring the allegations substantially true – that the publisher could rely on the defence of truth. "Reckless indifference" was the term used by the civil trial jury, an umbrella term well-served for Dank's style.