Law experts say Hird accountable

Essendon chief executive Ian Robson, chairman David Evans and coach James Hird address the media when the story first broke last week. Picture: Chris Scott Source: Herald Sun

CORPORATE governance experts say Essendon chief executive Ian Robson and coach James Hird are in the gun, but club chairman David Evans may yet survive the fallout of the Bombers' drug investigation.

One authority said a case could be made for Robson and Hird to be sacked as they were responsible for the operational side, regardless of whether Essendon players were found to have taken performance-enhancing drugs.

While Evans and his board have control of the club, if Evans had no knowledge of the issues that have brought the Bombers to their knees, he could survive.

"The CEO would definitely be the person who the buck stops with," RMIT University professor Brendan O'Connell, a corporate governance expert, said.

"The board of directors of any company is supposed to oversee the CEO in terms of performance, so, in their (the directors) case, they're probably not fully accountable for this at this stage.

"Obviously, if something had come to light that they were aware of and then they chose not to do anything about it, it would be a different story.

"Clearly, what we're seeing in Essendon's case, they've - at the very least - pushed the envelope on what's acceptable from a normal ethical perspective and that's happened under his watch, so I think the CEO has a lot to say to this."

O'Connell said coach Hird should also be accountable, as well as the club's then football manager, Paul Hamilton, who resigned at the end of last year.

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"If it's proven they were (banned) substances, these senior people will have little choice but to resign their positions and take the accountability that goes with that," O'Connell said.

"If it's shown that they're not illegal substances, but they're certainly ones that are very questionable, then it becomes a really interesting exercise for the club and its directors.

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"I think there needs to be some form of sanctions imposed by the club on these people.

"With the players, they (the club) are very quick to fine or suspend players if they misbehave or are in breach of their contract.

"I would suspect there's probably potential breach of contract by the coach and the CEO, too, because I'm sure their contract of employment would include that they won't bring the club into disrepute and I think everyone would see that already they have. The level of disrepute is really up in the air."

Law professor Ian Ramsay, from the University of Melbourne, said boards should have systems in place to ensure laws were followed.

Essendon recruit Brendon Goddard says his new Bombers teammates are anxious about the doping probe.

"If the board delegated, as would normally be expected, huge amounts of responsibility to a CEO and the board's done that to a competent CEO and the board's not on notice that anything's gone wrong, but something does go wrong, then in those circumstances the board wouldn't be liable because they've done all that could be expected," Ramsay said.

"Then it falls on the CEO. One issue always is whether boards are put on notice by something, whether there's been any mention in the press before this all erupted for example, of whether there were problems.

"We're talking about a duty owed by company directors to exercise reasonable care and diligence."

Sports scientist Stephen Dank left the club last year, but fitness expert Dean Robinson remains on staff under suspension pending the investigation.

Former Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett said he had faith in Evans.

"Essendon will have to resolve this themselves and I have confidence that their president will do so," Kennett said.

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