It’s a reasonable assumption RR. No doubt there’s some truth to the allegations; Burt himself has confirmed some aspects. He probably wouldn’t have done that if he didn’t think there was some context or missing information that made it seems less problematic – at least in his own head.
The problem is that having only been informed of the story just before it went to print, Clarkson and the others haven’t had a chance to respond. Then it got swept into the AFL’s investigation so having agreed to participate (and by that I probably mean they signed an NDA – I’m not sure how much they ‘participated’) they couldn’t speak. Now it has been wrapped up in an agreed settlement of sorts, they still can’t speak. I don’t think they ever should publicly, but something tells me Clarkson won’t be able to help himself at some point.
And that’s, in part, how you get to wording like ‘no adverse findings’. Clarkson and the rest could have walked away and told their side of the story, and that serves no-one at all, other than perhaps makes them feel better and in some eyes mitigates the damage to their reputation. Think about the lengths other bullies like Porter and BRS have gone to have their say and day in court to their own – and probably many others’ - detriment.
The thing I keep thinking about is how badly Hawthorn handled things. There were appalling allegations made against coaches/employees of competitors. It’s a huge conflict. They have no control over them speaking as part of Hawthorn's enquiry – but the AFL does. Say what you will about the AFL, but they have an integrity unit for this sort of thing. I have no idea why this wasn’t handed to them sooner. Also, the wording “The Parties acknowledge that the manner in which their allegations were leaked to the media was not in any party’s best interests” makes me think someone at Hawthorn is about to be blamed for the leak.
