Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge has come out in strong support of the Essendon 34 and in particular Dyson Heppell, describing him as the player he most feels for.
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Beveridge told 3AW Sports Today that the players were "victims" of a regime that "had gone off course" and the Bombers had already "copped their whack" for the 2012 supplements program.
It was confirmed on Thursday that a bid to clear the names of the 34 players found guilty of an anti-doping breach by the Court of Arbitration for Sport would go ahead through an appeal before the Swiss Federal Tribunal.
Beveridge said the Bombers and the players were unjustly still being punished.
"The Essendon football club has paid its penance. At the end of 2013 they couldn't compete in the finals. They've copped their whack and now for the decision to be made that they can only replace 10 of the 12 players. The extra strain that will put on that young group I would have thought replace the 12 and let's move on," he said
"The Essendon players have been treated like a European cycling team who should know better. Well, no, they shouldn't know better because they had no grounding to work from."
He said Heppell was "the most telling and extreme case in the whole saga".
"Dyson was an Essendon supporter and the coach of the day (James Hird) was his idol," Beveridge said. "Now he turns up at the Bombers, I know, many of us have been there (as a player), and when the coach stands in front of you it's 'yes sir, no sir, three bags full sir' and anyone who steps out of line or is a boat rocker probably doesn't last that long.
"When you think about Dyson's plight right here in 2016 … How sad is that?"
He said he was disappointed at the AFL's decision to not allow the Bulldogs, St Kilda, Port Adelaide and Melbourne the right to recruit top-up players to replace their Essendon recruits who were serving suspensions.
"I was quite passionate about the fact that we should have been able to fill the void there," Beveridge said.
"The offering of a rookie is of no benefit to us. We drafted Jed Adcock as a rookie to cover Clay Smith, who has a long-term injury.
"We've brought in a couple of very young players as our other two (rookies). We're not in a position to elevate another rookie for Stewart (Crameri)."
He also criticised rivals that opposed their request for top-up players.
"There are some clubs, and we don't know who they are who protested our submission and that's really disappointing that they don't see it the same way that we do," he said.
