ASADA's hint that Bombers are safe THE head of the anti-doping investigation into Essendon's 2012 supplements program told a meeting of players and coaches he would need to have "rocks in my head" to try to build a case against any player over the use of the contentious hormone peptide AOD-9604. Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority head of intelligence Paul Simonsson, a former NSW police detective and tax investigator who is leading the probe into the use of peptide hormones at Essendon and several NRL clubs, made the frank remark during a meeting at Windy Hill on the day ASADA began its lengthy examination of players. Although there are different interpretations of what Simonsson meant by the comment, Essendon took it as direct confirmation that the vexed legal status of AOD-9604 was too problematic for ASADA to build a successful anti-doping case around. Any charges against Essendon players for using AOD-9604, a failed obesity drug declared banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency in the wake of the Essendon doping allegations, would have triggered a lengthy and costly legal challenge about the status of the compound, its performance-enhancing properties and advice provided by ASADA and WADA about the legality of its use. Simonsson's unguarded comment - previously unreported in its detail - explains Essendon's growing confidence throughout the ASADA investigation that its players would have no case to answer, irrespective of whether they had been administered AOD-9604 by sports scientist Stephen Dank. It also sheds light on Essendon captain Jobe Watson's public admission during a television interview when he said he believed he had been administered AOD-9604 and done nothing wrong. The Australian revealed yesterday that ASADA's 400-page report of its investigation into Essendon's use of peptide hormones did not contain a prima facie case that any individual player took a banned substance. Although the AFL Commission will make its own determination of Essendon's conduct, no Essendon player is expected to be charged with an anti-doping offence. Simonsson joined ASADA last year after building a reputation as a plain-speaking police detective and investigator. His address to the Essendon playing group on May 6 was witnessed by coach James Hird, senior staff at Windy Hill, lawyers engaged by the club and representatives of the AFL Players Association. Simonsson declined to respond to questions from The Australian while the ASADA investigation is ongoing. An ASADA spokesman said: "ASADA reiterates that at no point has it advised any party that AOD-9604 was permitted in sport, and our advice to the sporting community has always been consistent with WADA." The significance of Simonsson's "rocks in my head" comment was overshadowed by fast-moving events. On the same day that Simonsson spoke at the club, ASADA began interviewing Essendon players and then club president David Evans made public Ziggy Switkowski's searing report documenting the club's mismanagement of its supplement and fitness regime. Switkowski was highly critical of the poor governance and lack of oversight within the football department which allowed Dank and former high-performance manager Dean Robinson to embark on an aggressive treatment regime that triggered the suspicion of anti-doping authorities. "The rapid diversification into exotic supplements, sharp increase in frequency of injections, the shift to treatment offsite in alternative medicine clinics, emergence of unfamiliar suppliers, marginalisation of traditional medical staff etc combine to create a disturbing picture of a pharmacologically experimental environment never adequately controlled or challenged or documented within the club," Switkowski found. WADA announced in April this year that AOD-9604 was banned under its "S0" classification, which covers "any pharmacological substance ... with no current approval by any governmental regulatory health authority for human therapeutic use." The WADA position has been cited by anti-doping experts such as Richard Ings, ASADA's former chief executive, as clear evidence that Essendon players, including Watson, had a case to answer.