Essendon flying high through heavy ASADA clouds ANZAC Day Medallist David Zaharakis says that while Essendon players are well aware they are about to be interrogated by ASADA about the Bombers' suspect supplements program, the investigation has had no impact on the club's form. Investigators from ASADA will begin interviewing Essendon players over the next fortnight, at a time the internal review headed by former Telstra boss Ziggy Switkowski on the scandal is expected to be finalised. It has also been reported that the Bombers have admitted to ASADA investigators that six players were treated with the anti-obesity drug AOD-9604 during the supplements program headed by Stephen Dank and Dean Robinson in 2012. WADA this week confirmed the substance was blacklisted in 2012, although the report suggests Essendon had seen a letter from the anti-doping organisation with advice to the contrary. Zaharakis, who was brilliant in gathering 34 touches and kicking four goals in Essendon's 46-point defeat of Collingwood at the MCG, said while players were well aware they would be quizzed as to their knowledge of what they were treated with, it had not affected their approach to the season. At the moment we are worrying about playing footy. It is in the back of our minds," he said. We know we are going to get interviewed in the next couple of weeks and that is fine but at the moment we are just concentrating on playing footy and we will take care of that when it happens. When quizzed about his feelings on the pending release of the Switkowski report, Hird said he would wait to see it before commenting. The Essendon coach has been interviewed by ASADA at least once, with the expectations he will be questioned through the season. How am I feeling? I don't really think it matters how I feel about it," Hird said. It is a report that will come out and talk about our football club and we will wait and see what it says. Melbourne coach Mark Neeld was also questioned about the Demons' links with Dank, but remained tight-lipped. It was revealed a week ago that club doctor Dan Bates, who has since been stood down, allegedly received advice from Dank. Melbourne's failure to report the contact to league officials which infuriated the AFL. "I'm going to have to trot out the exact same answer for the next six months," Neeld said. You know that there's an AFL and ASADA investigation going on, and everybody in the room knows that we cannot comment. We've got a letter that states we can't make any comment. Among defences that could be considered by Essendon if its players are found to have breached WADA doping rules is the principle of no fault or negligence. Essendon believes it sought and received advice that indicated the supplements were code compliant. Yet anti-doping expert Richard Ings, who once headed ASADA, said yesterday that the only way that defence had worked successfully in the past was when an athlete had been the victim of subterfuge. "If the player had absolutely no knowledge, no ability to ask a question, had no reason to suspect that what they were taking was dodgy . . . it's only been applied to my knowledge where someone has actually been unconscious and injected with a banned substance," he told 3AW radio. (The no-fault clause is only applied) if a player had absolutely no way of knowing that what they were taking was a prohibited substance and in this particular case I doubt they would get the benefit of having no fault. Elite multi-million-dollar-contract professional athletes have a duty of care to their clubs and to their code and their fans and that includes picking up the phone and calling ASADA, talking to the AFL Players Association or the AFL medical commission to check and double-check on what they take before they take it, because getting it wrong has severe consequences.