Dons’ huge legal spend
ESSENDON spent almost $2 million in legal and consulting expenses related to the supplements investigation, the club’s annual report shows.
The Bombers were slugged with a $2 million fine in August for governance breaches related to the club’s high performance program in 2012, taking the total direct financial cost of the saga to date to $3.94 million.
The $1.94 million spent on lawyers and consultants includes the legal representation retained for club officials James Hird, Mark Thompson, Danny Corcoran and Bruce Reid, who were all charged under the AFL’s broad disrepute rules.
Reid, the club doctor, subsequently had his charges withdrawn.
It is understood the AFL has also spent more than $1 million on legal and other fees related to the ASADA probe. That figure is expected to rise as the ASADA aspect of the probe continues.
More detail on the financial cost to the AFL is expected to be made public when the league releases its financial report early next year.
Essendon’s record $ 2 million fine is to be paid in instalments - with the first $400,000 due on New Year’s Eve - but the full amount has been included in this year’s financial results.
Essendon recorded a $3.2 million trading loss for 2013, but technically remained in the black when funding grants for its new training base were taken into account.
The Essendon annual report notes the club’s short and medium-to-long term goals and in the latter category lists 'focus on never putting the club at risk' as an aim.
The supplements saga was also a theme in Paul Little’s chairman’s report.
‘‘It is important to acknowledge that we have accepted responsibility for what happened last year and I sincerely hope our members and supporters know that we are sorry,’’ Little said
‘‘But many things have already changed within the club to ensure the events of 2012 will never happen again.’’
Despite the off field saga, the Bombers increased football department spending by $1.2 million to $20.8 million and this month moved into a state of the art training base at Melbourne Airport.
Yesterday the bulk of the senior players left for an altitude training camp in Colorado.