DANK IN TELL-ALL MOMENT ...REALLY
STEPHEN Dank is threatening to detail explosive allegations against NRL and AFL players when headlining a speaking event at the Surfers Paradise Surf Lifesaving Club next month.
The central figure in the 2011 Cronulla Sharks and 2012 Essendon Bombers “supplements saga”, the banned biochemist is in hiding after he was injured in a drive-by shooting in the early hours of July 23.
Dank, a controversial figure in the peptide and supplement trade, claims his Melbourne home was peppered with six bullets in a bid to silence him before he planned to drop more sports doping “bombshells” at a public speaking event in Bendigo that night.
Renowned for unorthodox treatment and diagnostic methods, including the use of calf blood and profiling players’ DNA, Dank worked as a sports scientist with NRL clubs, including Manly Sea Eagles and with the Essendon, Geelong and Gold Coast Suns AFL clubs.
The 52-year-old oversaw the doping program that led to 34 Essendon players being banned for 12 months by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in January and saw him banned for life by both the AFL and NRL.
Dank claims he was set to reveal more explosive allega- The shooting’s changed everything. He’s ready to reveal it all tions involving previously unnamed league and AFL figures but was forced to abandon his speech after he was injured when a bullet grazed his forehead during the shooting.
He now plans to forge ahead and collaborate with MC and promoter Mark “Jacko” Jackson to reveal all in a trio of “tell-all exposes”, this time in Queensland. The speaking tour will open on the Gold Coast on September 20 before shows at Fitzy’s Convention Centre at Logan on September 21 and the Jindalee Hotel, in Brisbane, on September 23.
Mr Jackson said Dank was “over it” following the shooting.
“The truth will hurt,” he said.
It’s not the first time Dank has headlined an event on the Coast – he was guest speaker at a sportsman’s lunch at Burleigh Sports Club in May 2014.
And it’s not the first time Dank has threatened to “reveal all” in the wake of the supplements saga.
Critics say the fallen sports figure frequently infers he has more to reveal but is yet to produce any evidence to back up his claims.
“If you thought he’d held back in the past, forget about it,” Mr Jackson said.
“The shooting’s changed everything. He’s ready to reveal it all.”
Dank has lodged an appeal against his AFL ban with the AFL Appeals Board.
Police have declined to comment on the investigation into the drive-by shooting but Dank’s involvement with peptides and supplements has prompted speculation it could have been linked to underworld figures or a failed business venture.
MARK “JACKO” JACKSON