If there has been a recurring theme in the fallout from Australian football's blackest scandal it has been the failure by the key players behind its inception to read the play.
And so it is again this week with the release of a recorded meeting held at Essendon in August 2013 shortly before the AFL handed out its harshest punishment to a club and its officials and yet a punishment that with hindsight could well have been harsher.
The varying degrees of delusion in that bunker occupied by Paul Little, James Hird, Mark Thompson and Danny Corcoran can be summed up by concluding that all were in desperate positions but none – at least in the recording – showed contrition for the damage they had caused and were continuing to create.
So if motivation in leaking the tape was not to make the four look good then it must lie in the ongoing quest for redemption along with the now hopeless and always irrelevant quest of revenge against the so-called AFL enemy.
And to coin a term once used by Kevin Sheedy, the individual who made this salacious but in reality tired conversation public is no friend of the Essendon Football Club. No wonder CEO Xavier Campbell and his board were so upset on Friday when the Essendon conversation reverted to the bad old days.
And if it is true that Mark Thompson – to be generous – had some knowledge of the meeting being recorded then what a sad picture it paints of a football club divided and in decline. It is true that the AFL did not emerge from the Essendon drugs scandal with a clean slate. Outgoing chairman Mike Fitzpatrick's broad-brush "no regrets" last week belied previous admissions of error from Andrew Demetriou and the fact the commission vowed to review its own processes. And it is true the AFL can be brutal when it is fighting to reach a settlement as Matt Rendell, Chris Connolly and Dean Bailey know.
But the refusal by the quartet headlined in the meeting to accept responsibility for the most damaging drugs program inflicted at a sporting club in Australia's history overrides all that. And it appears that all four have continued the defence of finger pointing — not only at the AFL but each other.
Thompson, who is clearly closely connected to the bizarre fact of the recording, seemed better suited to the bunker mentality than any of his fellow war counsellors. And what a mess he made of his time at Essendon. You have to wonder whether Thompson has put his hand up for making himself available to work as a senior assistant and mentor for an untried coach and – even allowing for his stated doubts about the program – failing so badly.
Not to mention the fact he earned more than $600,000 on an annual basis to perform that duty. No wonder interim CEO Ray Gunstan refused to take on the job when Thompson was appointed caretaker coach. And Little might now host Gillon McLachlan at drinks parties but nothing will change the fact his poor judgments set the club's rebuild back by at least 18 months – and that's being generous.
It is terribly sad that Hird's life had become so reduced that he was driven to the act of desperation that led him to the care of a mental health institution for close to a month. And it was poor timing then to kick a man when he was so down.
But equally damaging to the sad story of Hird's fall from grace was the commentary from his so-called supporters blaming the AFL — along with the attempt to dredge up the matter again in any official sense.
Allan Hird's relationship with his son has been tenuous at best and his January rantings missed the point.
That Hird's lawyer Steven Amendola, whose systematically botched counsel cost his client an untold fortune, would comment on the issue at all remains unfathomable. He should still be embarrassed by his poor performance. As does the fact that Ian Hanke, the spin doctor responsible for so much bad advice, continues to work with the Hird family.
Corcoran, who diagnosed his friend some time ago with post-traumatic stress disorder, should have learned the perils of the blame game during his last months at Essendon. Perhaps distress at Hird's state over the summer clouded his judgment but to suggest the AFL was responsible for Hird's predicament was foolhardy and demonstrated how little he has learnt as he rebuilds his relationship with football via the VFL and Sandringham.
It is correct to say that Hird is a victim of the game that he adorned and the club that revered him but not in the manner his poorly chosen advisers, his father and Corcoran described. From the time he first stepped onto the MCG almost one quarter of a century ago Hird's athletic brilliance and football talent gave so much to the game that he never had to ask for anything.
So much was given to him over so many years that when the desperate Bombers under David Evans were looking for a quick fix and a messiah at the same time his emergence and availability seemed enough along with his dream team of assistants.
But that was the beginning of the end for the messiah myth at Essendon, a mentality perpetuated long before Hird came along. A mentality so ingrained that no wonder he turned rogue on the club and sought self-preservation ahead of the team.
Those who were at Windy Hill at the time recall the chain of command and attitude of those running football was so inappropriate to that of a professional organisation that if the injecting and dangerous drugs regime hadn't happened some other scandal would have eventually brought them down.
Even when the AFL suspended Hird because his actions had brought the game into disrepute Essendon extended his contract for two years and paid him close to $1million not to work and few batted an eyelid.
So it is quite easy to understand how tough it must have been for the fallen hero to find his way back into the real world and search for a new career without the unquestioning support network that had propelled him up for so long.
Now the signs are that Hird is back in the family fold and attempting to rebuild his life.
And Essendon, which launched its season on Thursday night and hosted its happiest parents function in years on the previous night, is finally looking forward. Barring unforeseen medical issues, with only a handful of player insurance claims to complete and only club doctor Bruce Reid (and his medical colleague Brendan de Morton) remaining from those in positions of responsibility during that time, the indications are that the Bombers can stop treading water.
Which is how it has been really since the scandalous regime became public. Even though members have been loyal along with so many sponsors and other supporters the club which was once a powerhouse has fallen behind the commercial might of Hawthorn and Collingwood and even Richmond in terms of attendances and membership.
Surely the only path forward is to stop looking back.
Those who allowed this to happen should be so ashamed of themselves that any personal grievances remain red herrings to what they put their players through. And the side issue in the form of a push for a parliamentary inquiry smacks of an attempt to rewrite the key facts of the club's dreadful recent history.
