Essendon AFL chairman Paul Little has asked the players for their forgiveness after they were placed under enormous stress during the supplements scandal.
“I think the players clearly have felt the strain over the last five or six weeks and there was a lot of pressure on them,” Little told a media conference on Tuesday night.
“It had been building. I think what I can say to the players now is that there is a clear way forward, and ask them to forgive us for the mistakes we’ve made.
“I think the players probably do feel let down.”
The Bombers have been dumped from this year’s finals despite having earned a top-eight position, fined $2 million, stripped of draft picks for the next two years, and senior coach James Hird has been suspended until August 25 2014.
AFL Commission chairman Mike Fitzpatrick said the Bombers had set up a supplements program that was experimental and inappropriate.
He also said it was “inadequately vetted and controlled” and failed to protect the health, welfare and safety of players.
Fitzpatrick says the fact the issue has dragged on for nearly seven months has overshadowed the season.
Little has emphasised the Bombers are placing a high importance on the welfare of their players.
“From our players’ point of view, there is a significant amount of monitoring going on now to ensure that their health and their welfare is uppermost in our strategic thinking,” he said.