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August 26th, 2013 
Peter Nolan
Updated
Talks between the AFL Commission and Essendon to determine the price the club will pay for its controversial supplements program have ended without resolution late on Monday night.
The talks will resume at 11:00am AEST on Tuesday.
The commission is hearing a series of charges against Essendon, coach James Hird, senior assistant Mark Thompson, club doctor Bruce Reid and football manager Danny Corcoran.
It is expected the club may be stripped of premiership points earned this season, as well as facing a fine and loss of draft picks, while Hird could also face a suspension.
We’ll be back in tomorrow. I’m not sure if the Essendon deal (between the club and the AFL) will get done tonight.
But the legal team for coach James Hird has refused to say whether he will accept a period of suspension over his role in the scandal.
Speaking on Fox Footy after leaving the hearing, Bombers assistant Thompson said his personal case with the AFL was “nowhere near” being resolved.
He also said it would be terrible for Essendon if Hird was suspended for 12 months.
“If he was to lose 12 months it’d be disastrous,” Thompson said.
“He’s a young coach who is learning his way and he didn’t deliberately set out to do anything wrong.
“I would think if the AFL knocked him out for 12 months, he would struggle to want to get back.”
Thompson, a two-time Geelong premiership coach, said he had not considered a possible one-year role as head coach in Hird’s absence.
“It hasn’t been offered to me. It hasn’t been talked about,” Thompson said.
“James is our coach and we’re going to try everything we can to help him … get a fair sanction for what he’s done.”
Thompson: ‘I’m fighting for my reputation
I’ve been charged on being a drug cheat and I’m not. I’m fighting for my reputation.
Thompson said he was locked away in a room at AFL House with his lawyers from about five hours.
“We’ve just been negotiating all day basically,” Thompson said.
“We’ll be back in tomorrow. I’m not sure if the Essendon deal (between the club and the AFL) will get done tonight,” he said.
“I just turn up tomorrow in my suit, go back in my little office and try to negotiate another deal.”
Asked if he was prepared to plead guilty for a certain penalty, Thompson said: “I am.”
However he added he wanted to fight 80 per cent of the allegations on the AFL’s 34-page charge sheet.
“At the moment it’s a fine,” Thompson said of his possible penalty.
“But if we don’t agree to it, to what the AFL are handing out, then that might be off the table and go back to suspension or whatever it is.
“I’ve been charged on being a drug cheat and I’m not. I’m fighting for my reputation.”
Veteran Essendon doctor Reid was the first to leave the AFL Commission hearing.
Reid and his legal team walked out of AFL House without comment just before 7:00pm, while Corcoran left soon after.
There has been speculation that Reid will resign from his part-time role at the club, which he has held for more than two decades.
Reid is determined to clear his professional name over the scandal.
ABC/AAP
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Source Article from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-26/bombers-doctor-leaves-afl-hearing/4913466
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