The father of a current Essendon player spoke candidly at a Brownlow breakfast on Monday about his disappointment at how the club had cared for his son throughout the supplements ordeal.
Murray Browne, a former player with Collingwood and Fitzroy and brother of Jeff Browne, former lawyer for the AFL and an ex-head of Channel Nine, said the 2011-12 supplements saga and its continuing fallout, had been "an ongoing saga for us (the family)".
Alex Browne was a third-round selection at the 2010 national draft. He made his AFL debut in 2011 and has played eight matches across 2011 and 2012.
Murray Browne, the AFL Players Association alumni advisory board chairman, said: "As a family, our main issue has been to support Alex through it.
"He's OK and, unfortunately we're just waiting for the end to happen.
"We feel a bit let down by the whole governance factor of the club.
"He's OK, but there's a slight uncertainty about the future with him and his health, and there shouldn't be any uncertainty really.
"But we've made a lot of investigations and we're confident he's OK. Let's just hope the saga ends soon."
Browne's comments come almost a year to the day after former Essendon star Anthony Daniher, father of Bombers player Joe Daniher, criticised coach James Hird, who recently returned from a 12-month AFL suspension, for "having his head in the sand" over the scandal.
Anthony was addressing a grand final eve lunch and spoke of the struggles their then 19-year-old son had endured during his first year in the AFL in 2013.
After an interim report into the saga was tabled by the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority, the AFL banned the Bombers from the 2013 finals, fined them $2 million, and suspended Hird.
Also speaking at the breakfast, hosted by Strathcona Girls Grammar, a "vindicated" Andrew Demetriou called for an end to the supplements saga and reminded the Bombers that their duty to the playing group was more important than their duty to any individual.
The former AFL CEO spoke at length about his frustrations when asked about Federal Justice John Middleton's decision on Friday that the league's joint anti-doping investigation with ASADA into Essendon was legal.
"It was vindication of the position we took and ASADA took about a very serious investigation," Demetriou said.
"It was always about the health and welfare of players and our rules were structured in such a way that we could compel Essendon officials and players to give evidence.
"Our team spent a hell of a lot of time on the process to make sure that it was always legal. On Friday you heard pretty much the same from Justice Middleton."
Much of the drugs saga focused on Demetriou's role, with Hird's wife Tania claiming the former league boss had bullied her husband.
Demetriou said those criticisms had been allowed to distract attention from the central issue – Essendon's supplements program.
"People who know me have always known that I only say the truth and I think it was a vindication moreso for the AFL and ASADA on Friday.
"I can't think of anyone at the AFL who has ever injected any players. This is not about the AFL or about ASADA, it's about what took place at the Essendon Football Club.
"It was absolutely appropriate that it was investigated if you believe that young men shouldn't be subjected to a regime that involved thousands of injections."
While he said he didn't have any inside knowledge of how the issue was being dealt with, Demetriou said he expected some back-channelling between Essendon and the AFL to be going on.
"For everyone's concern, particularly the Essendon players and the public, the matters need to be brought to the end. I'm sure there'll be some dialogue going on at the moment about how you can bring this whole sorry saga to an end, particularly if you care for the players.
"Organisations, clubs are always bigger than the individual. You should always put the interests of the whole first and foremost. Let's hope that some common sense prevails."
Former AFLPA boss now St Kilda CEO Matt Finnis strongly backed the decision of the AFL to use its powers to compel Essendon players and coaches to detail the supplement program to ASADA.
"People talk about the fact that ASADA had to rely on the AFL's powers in order to be able to compel people to answer truthfully," Finnis said. "I fully support that because the one interest that all players have is to curb doping.
"So to challenge that process never sat well with me. And the players didn't sign up to that."
Finnis said should ASADA decide to sanction or ban players for taking performance-enhancing substances, the players would be able to mount a strong defence that they were only doing as their club instructed.
"I would have thought any sense of fairness would look very favourably on the players' position in the circumstances they were put into.
"The players need to recognise that in many cases their interests and the clubs interests are aligned, but not in all cases."
