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ESSENDON is banned from the finals and James Hird banned from working in the AFL for 12 months.
AFL chairman Mike Fitzpatrick has just handed down the penalties after Essendon agreed to plead guilty to bringing the game into disrepute.
The Bombers have been fined $2 million and will forfeit their place in the 2013 finals series.
History books will record Essendon as finishing ninth this season. Essendon's opponent on Saturday night, Richmond, will still be playing for four premiership points.
Essendon players remain eligible to win this year's Brownlow Medal and Rising Star Award.
The club is prohibited from exercising its first and second-round picks in next two drafts.
Hird is banned from working at any AFL club in any capacity for 12 months effective August 25 this year.
Assistant coach Simon Goodwin will coach the Bombers against Richmond and after 12 months Hird will be welcomed back as Bombers senior coach - just in time for next year's finals.
AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou and chairman Mike Fitzpatrick hand down Essendon's punishment.
Hird can attend AFL matches but cannot be paid by the Bombers in any capacity.
He did not attend tonight's announcement, with chairman Paul Little speaking after the AFL chiefs. Little described the penalties as "tough but fair".
"I think the players probably do feel let down," Little said.
"All I can say to them is there is a clear way forward and ask that they forgive us for mistakes that we've made."
Essendon football manager Danny Corcoran is banned for six months - two of them suspended - effective October 1 this year.
Assistant coach Mark Thompson has been fined $30,000.
The case against club doctor Bruce Reid was adjourned to Thursday. He is contesting the charges against him.
The Bombers pleaded guilty to bringing the game into disrepute and assistant coach Mark Thompson and football manager Danny Corcoran agreed that as a consequence of their actions the club breached AFL rule 1.6.
Bombers coach James Hird leaves AFL House.
FItzpatrick said the issue involved in the supplements program are "disturbing".
He said Essendon never set out to submit a supplement program that stepped outside the WADA code.
But he said it was "experimental" and "inadequately vetted and controlled" and the Bombers could not be certain their players had not taken banned drugs.
"On behalf of the AFL Commission I want to send a clear message that nothing and no one can come ahead of the duty of care owed to our players and the integrity of the competition," AFL chairman Mike FItzpatrick said.
Fitzpatrick said the outcome was supported by 17 clubs and AFL Players Association and shows "no single club is above our great game"
He said Essendon "regrets the impact" potential consequences may have on players and AFL competition.
"A number of significant lessons have be learned, and changes made."
AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou said James Hird had accepted that his actions breached the rules by providing a risk that players could have taken prohibited substances - although there was no evidence "at the moment" to issue infraction notices.
"ASADA have made it very clear that their investigation remains open," he said.
Demetriou said Essendon was dumped from the finals "to make sure we didn't taint the competition".
The race for the eight takes a dramatic turn after Essendon is kicked out of the AFL finals.
He said aead-rubber against Richmond in the last round "not the ideal situation". "I would hope…Richmond and Essendon supporters show up to that game."
Essendon issued a statement saying it accepted responsibility for "failings at our club" in 2011 and 2012.
"The club also accepts the penalties imposed by the AFL and welcomes that this matter has been brought to a close for the club and the three individuals," the statement said.
"In the Deeds of Settlement, the AFL acknowledges that neither Essendon Football Club nor any of the individuals charged set out to implement a supplements program that would result in players being administered prohibited or potentially harmful substances."
Demetriou said the saga was a "complex issue" that the AFL had taken "very seriously".
"Hopefully we can all put this behind us.
"The AFL has a duty to all of its stakeholders that we look after our players."
Mark Thompson leaves AFL House after a second day of negotiations. Picture: Wayne Ludbey
He said the AFL needed to remind everyone that when young men go to a football club, they'll be welcomed into a "professional environment", and that no one in the industry has enjoyed this "sorry saga".
The decision follows two days of negotiations at AFL House.
Fitzpartrick rejected suggestions for an inquiry into leaks or allegations the AFL tipped off the Bombers they were under investigation.
"I don't think we intend to hold an inquiry … I think the accusations of leaking were interesting, but from the commission's point of view we saw no evidence of that."
"I think it became a far more public event than it needed to be. And as Andrew said, it's had some effect on the season.
"But as Andrew said we have to deal with (issues like this). If it means we have to have a public slanging match for six months, then we have to have a public slanging match."
JON RALPH ANALYSIS: FOOTY'S BLACKEST DAY
MORE TO COME
Essendon assistant coach Mark Thompson joins AFL 360 immediately after his hearing with the AFL.
Earlier, Supreme Court action remained on the table as Essendon officials continue negotiations with the AFL today.
It's believed the legal teams working for the club and coach James Hird remained adamant a settlement can only be reached on the back of a significant watering down of the AFL's charges against them.
Hird and his lawyer Julian Burnside arrived at AFL House earlier this morning, along with Mark Thompson, Danny Corcoran and Bruce Reid as the football public called on the AFL to stop talking with the Bombers and just impose a penalty.
SCROLL DOWN TO GET LIVE UPDATES AND JOIN THE DEBATE
Talkback radio was this morning full of disgruntled football fans wanting an end to the saga now, and calling on the league to reaffirm its position as the boss.
Essendon coach James Hird and wife Tania leave their Toorak home this morning. Picture: Mark Dadswell
The game's other stakeholders have also begun to question how what was supposed to be a disciplinary hearing turned in to a protracted negotiation.
It's believed Burnside planned to front the nine AFL Commission members and re-iterate his stance that they should recuse themselves from the hearing and that Hird should go before an independent tribunal to plead his case.
Essendon clings to draft pick hopes
Dons plead for their future
Ban disastrous for Hird, says Thompson
Formal talks between the AFL and Essendon to resolve the penalties over the club's suspect 2012 supplements program started again in Melbourne this morning, trying to break the stalemate left on Monday night.
Essendon, Hird, club doctor Bruce Reid, assistant coach Mark Thompson and Bombers football manager Danny Corcoran have all been charged with bringing the game into disrepute arising from the supplements program at the club.
Fans show their devotion for James Hird. Picture: Alex Coppel
Corcoran and Reid have arrived at AFL House flanked by their legal teams, while Essendon chief executive officer Ray Gunston and chairman Paul Little are also inside as negotiations over possible penalties continue.
The AFL Commission hearing lasted all day Monday, and broke up late on Monday night with no resolution.
Senior assistant coach Mark Thompson said officials in the commission's sights were "nowhere near" accepting many aspects of the damning disrepute charges laid by the AFL last week.
This morning Hird, dressed in a suit and an Essendon tie, left his Toorak home with wife Tania about 8.45am.
Thompson said last night he believed he had been charged as a drug cheat and "I am not - so that's what I am fighting on, my reputation and integrity, and I want to clear my name".
The Bombers will resume talks at 11am about penalties that could see them stripped of premiership points and fined.
Thompson described the sanctions being negotiated as "possibly more severe than anything in the history of the game".
The race for ninth
Dr Bruce Reid and his legal team leave AFL House. Picture: Michael Klein.
Thompson told AFL 360 on Fox Footy it would be "disastrous" if Hird were suspended for 12 months.
"The rap sheet that got put into the media last week, it is nowhere near that at the moment. We are trying to scrub as many (charge particulars) off at the moment to be reasonable and be charged for what we believe is fair in our eyes ... we have all been quite reasonable.
"The fines and punishment the club are going to receive, it is quite severe, it is probably more severe than anything in history. No one has ever had their points taken off them.
"Draft picks as well, and then you look at it and say, actually we haven't been charged, no players have been charged.
"We have broken no rules or codes, and no players have used prohibited substances, so for us to accept what has been offered is being very generous and kind."
Little, Hird, Thompson, Corcoran and Reid all fronted up before 2pm yesterday with an army of lawyers - including human rights lawyer Julian Burnside, acting for Hird, and QC Jack Rush - in tow.
Tania Hird was also present.
Key players including Thompson, Reid and Corcoran began leaving at 7 o'clock last night.
The Bombers had been locked in intense negotiations with the league since Thursday, when a meeting of club presidents and the AFL Commission left Essendon isolated in its fight against the league. The presidents declared unanimous support for the AFL on Thursday and agreed the commission was the right forum to hear charges.
Earlier that day, Hird lodged a writ in the Supreme Court aimed at blocking the AFL Commission from hearing his charge and forcing the league to hand over more specifics about the charges and potential witnesses.
An emotional phone call from an unidentified mother of a Bombers player to a Melbourne radio station early on Thursday morning is believed to have turned the tide of public opinion against Essendon and Hird.
The more conciliatory mood from the Essendon camp came as a stark contrast to comments from Little and Hird last Wednesday, when they fronted the media after the release of a damning 34-page summary of charges was released by the AFL.
Little said then the league was determined to punish the Bombers "as though we are drug cheats", while Hird described the release of charge particulars as an "ambush".
The charge sheet alleged Essendon players may have been given the banned drug Thymosin Beta-4 among 15 substances administered in its supplements program in 2011-12. It also said Hird had suffered unspecified "significant" side-effects from drugs.
The Herald Sun had earlier revealed an allegation from the charge sheet that players were to receive 1500 injections of AOD-9604 and a version of Thymosin and more than 16,500 doses of Colostrum and 8000 doses of Tribulus.
Footy's biggest drugs scandal erupted on February 5 this year when Essendon "self-reported" its potential performance-enhancing drugs problem to the AFL and invited the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority to investigate.
Since then, ASADA has interviewed more than 130 witnesses and referenced 13,000 documents for an interim report into the Bombers.
The anti-doping body's investigation will continue, with the no guarantees that individual players won't face doping charges in the future.
- with Grant Baker, Michael Warner
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