But the governing body of Australia’s national game could not have been more off the mark when it adopted that attitude to the Essendon doping scandal that blew up back in 2012.

The organisation’s attempts to deal with the matter “in-house” comprehensively blew up in its face on Tuesday.

The news was not good for the AFL, not good for Essendon and not good for fans as the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld the World Anti-Doping Agency’s appeal against an AFL Tribunal decision that had cleared 34 current and former players.

Those among the group that still play have been rubbed out for two years, but with a period of suspension already served can return no sooner than November.

The ruling and punishment wipes out a chunk of Essendon’s team, and all of its hopes, for season 2016. And then there is the issue of Jobe Watson’s 2012 Brownlow Medal. The AFL will review the matter in February but it’s a no-brainer. Watson can’t be both the game’s best and fairest player and a drug cheat in the same year.

The finding also means the saga casts its shadow over another season and beyond, with the possibility players will take legal action against Essendon and the AFL.

It is fair to say the view that athletes are 100 per cent responsible for what they put into their bodies is widely held. But that truth does not negate the duty of care owed to players by the Essendon Football Club and the AFL. 

Hindsight is 20/20 but, as the administrator that promotes and makes money on the back of the success of the game, how could the AFL have believed an “in-house” tribunal to be the best adjudicator of the drug allegations? That was an approach that was naive or arrogant – or a bit of both.

One would think the AFL must have learned some lessons through the course of this long and unsavoury saga but the language of chief executive Gillon McLachlan might lead one to think otherwise. Referring to the review of Watson’s Brownlow Medal on Tuesday, he said: “The fact (is), it's a highly circumstantial case”.

That being the case or not, the whistle has now blown. It is time for the AFL to accept the umpire’s decision without undermining or qualifying that decision. As long as the AFL continues to do that, it is undermining the integrity of its own game.