Collingwood president Eddie McGuire at the Westpac Centre. Picture: Picture: Wayne Ludbey Source: Wayne Ludbey / News Corp Australia
IT'S difficult to know what and who to believe in the Essendon saga.
Take "the Essendon mother'', also known as Sarah.
The famously distraught woman remains a mystery almost 12 months after she became a "game-changer'' in this whole debacle.
Triple M host Eddie McGuire, who interviewed the "mother" in August last year, conceded last Saturday he did not know who she was when he put her on air, nor does he know who she is now.
Essendon is none the wiser. Despite their extensive investigations, they have no idea who she is.
The Bombers spoke to every mother and father of a player on their list, and they all denied their involvement.
It seems implausible her identity remains unknown.
In a saga of mistruths, accusations, inducements and deals, it's not misguided to ask: Was she a phony?
If she was a fake, and it would appear increasingly likely she was, what a masterstroke.
It's important to know her identity because the episode dramatically swung public opinion against the Bombers and now exiled coach James Hird.
"It's all right for James and the board of Essendon to say they have not cheated," said Sarah.
"The whole question is not about cheating. The whole question is about morals, it's about ethics and it's about the trust that the parents put on the club.
"For him to be used and to be injected with substances that may not be illegal but could be banned for substances that are labelled not for human consumption or not for human use and for the club to completely disregard it and to inject my son, I find appalling.
One senior AFL figure described it as a "game-changer" in a vicious PR war between the Bombers and the AFL.
In the days leading up to Essendon answering charges at AFL House last August, the relationship between Essendon and the AFL had broken down.
Essendon chairman Paul Little and coach James Hird held a press conference at a hotel in South Yarra on Wednesday, August 21, where Little announced he had lost all faith in the AFL executive.
That same morning, the AFL had sensationally released the ASADA interim report charge sheet.
The night before, sports medicine expert Dr Andrew Garnham said on Fox Footy's AFL360 program he had sought and received information from the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority in February 2013 that AOD-9604 wasn't a banned supplement.
Remember, AOD-9604 was the drug which had everyone hanging Essendon players as drug cheats, namely the skipper Jobe Watson who admitted he believed he was given it.
Remember, too, that now not a single player is being prosecuted by ASADA for using AOD-9604.
So, after 24 hours of tit-for-tat between Essendon and the AFL, up pops "the Essendon mother" on Triple M on Thursday, August 22.
"I spoke to her before she came on air extensively," McGuire told SEN on Saturday.
"And while she would absolutely not give me any information who she was, and I don't know who she is, I was convinced enough to put her on air at a very volatile time.
"If she was an actress, she was the best actress in Australia."
Challenged as to why he put her on air without knowing her identity, McGuire likened her to being a newspaper source, although it was pointed out reporters usually knew the names of their sources.
"You're going my journalistic integrity," McGuire said.
McGuire said he "interviewed'' her for a half-hour, and spoke to her three times, and then stressed it was himself and his producer who spoke to her.
McGuire said he spoke to the woman for 30 minutes, including input from a producer, and he insists he did not know what she was going to say on air.
"I didn't know she was going to go the way she did,'' he said. "It was a good interview."
Asked if it changed the landscape for Essendon, McGuire said: "I think it did."
That is not in dispute. Whether she was a genuine caller is another story.
