I was naive and misled: Sandor Earl Disgraced NRL player Sandor Earl says he was naive to trust controversial sport scientist Stephen Dank. Sandor Earl says Stephen Dank took him to Essendon club to meet coaching staff Source: DailyTelegraph NRL player Sandor Earl says he was naive to trust controversial sport scientist Stephen Dank who introduced him to the coaching staff of the Essendon AFL club. Earl has admitted to the use and trafficking of CJC-1295, a banned substance that triggers the release of growth hormone. In an interview with the Nine Network, to be aired in full tonight, Earl says Dank took him for injections and introduced him to Essendon coaching staff which included head coach James Hird. Dank was the sports scientist behind Essendon's ill-conceived supplements program, which led to them being banned from the 2013 finals series, fined $2 million and received draft penalties for the next two years. Hird was banned for 12 months by the AFL for his role in the supplements scandal. In an excerpt of the interview shown on the Today show on this morning, Earl says Dank took him to the Essendon club to meet coaching staff, including Hird. It was quite full on. I went in there in, a round table-type setting, and met the whole coaching staff. I couldn't rule out a person I didn't meet," told Nine. Dank told me that he was employed there for a supplement program and that he had full reign, and he seemed to be enjoying it quite a lot. Earl says Dank took him to get an injection, describing the effects as morphine-like. "I didn't know what to expect to be honest, and I wasn't really told what to expect, which probably would have been nice," he said. It was a strange feeling. I would describe it as morphine - a cold rush going through the body, I felt quite sick in the stomach, almost a bit quite sleepy. I sat down for 5 to 10 minutes and it went away. Earl said he was naive and had been misled by Dank.