The Australian Football League "threatened to cut ties with Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority drug testers if key documents in the Essendon supplements saga are made public," according to Michael Warner of the HERALD SUN. The "bombshell move," which could jeopardize millions of dollars in federal government funding for the league, was signaled in an affidavit filed by AFL Head of Integrity & Security Tony Keane in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal last Friday. The AFL joined ASADA in "fighting a Freedom of Information request made by a member of the public seeking access to doping control forms" signed by Essendon Bombers players between Aug. '11 and Sept. '12. Keane said, "If the application is successful ... I anticipate that the AFL would give serious consideration to engaging an alternative supplier for the conduct of the testing required in connection with the AFL’s anti-doping program." Banned Bomber Nathan Lovett-Murray "joined the stoush to have the doping control forms released." Lovett-Murray’s agent, Peter Jess, said that the forms were being protected to cover up “serious flaws” in the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s findings that the Essendon players had colluded by failing to "disclose the use of substances administered by sports scientist Stephen Dank" (HERALD SUN, 3/12).
