ESSENDON coach James Hird made an emotional statement about the “constant innuendo” surrounding the Bombers as the performance enhancing drugs scandal begins to take a toll.
The Bombers have been under the microscope considerably particularly in recent days as leading journalist Caroline Wilson wrote a piece saying that Hird had been the architect behind it all after a meeting happened between the AFL and Hird in 2011 when the AFL warned Hird of getting his players involved with peptides.
“[Over] the past five months, there’s obviously been some truth put out there, but the constant innuendo, rhetoric, half-truths and probably lies that have been spun about the club, the players, the great people that work here, and the half-truths, rhetoric and lies that have been spun about myself, are very hurtful and very damaging,” Hird said on Friday.
“It’s very hard when you keep looking at the hurtful and damaging nature of those comments. It’s hard when you can’t respond, either. It’s hard when you want to talk about the facts, when you want to explain to people what has happened here [and] try and find out the truth. But the club is committed to a process.
“I would say to people out there… that if you are sitting in judgment and you’ve made your judgment, please wait until the facts are on the table because the facts will come out very soon.
“And to my peers, to the players of other clubs, to the people at other clubs, if you can reserve your judgment until all facts are on the table, and we get a chance to see the report [and] put our version of events across, that would be much appreciated.
“I think that there’s no person out there more than myself that wants the truth, that is trying to find the truth, that wants that out on the table.
“I understand this is a very serious issue and we want to make sure that the issue is dealt with properly, and we want it out there as soon as we can.
“And if you’re an Essendon supporter, Essendon member, from the players and from myself, we thank you so much for everything … the way you’ve supported us so far, because you’ve given us a lot of strength through a time that’s been very, very difficult.”