Former Bombers skipper Jobe Watson has elaborated on the grief that the infamous supplement saga had on the Essendon Football Club, his career and emotions.
Watson says he holds nothing against the club, but believes they could have handled the situation better.
โFour years of my career and my teammates careers were absorbed by this and that makes me sad, I donโt have ill feelings towards the club, but the club didnโt do their job,โ he told the Plant Proof podcast.
โThey were negligent and they were negligent on multiple levels and they had to admit that and I guess my feelings are that it happened, thereโs no point harbouring grudges and ill feelings towards the club because of that.
โI do have sadness because of what me and my teammates went through.
โThe program was brought in by the club, it was sanctioned by the football club, weโre employed by that club and we placed an enormous amount of trust in the people in the club.
โI think that we exhausted every possible avenue that we could legally to try and exonerate ourselves because we believed we werenโt guilty and that was our belief from the moment the accusations were there right up until all the evidence we saw against us at the final CAS hearing."
The 33-year old remembers the dark period leading into the suspensions.
โWhen I look back on it, of course I shouldโve done more, or I couldโve done more, but I donโt necessarily have a huge sense of guilt about it because I didnโt have those feelings at the time and I canโt live retrospectively,โ he said.
โI guess when I reflect on it my feelings are of sadness because of the level and the amount of time that it dragged on for.โ
Watson admits that a part of him never wanted to come back to Melbourne.
โI remember being at Melbourne airport and leaving (for New York) and thinking to myself, I donโt know if Iโll ever come back,โ Watson said.
