Essendon coach James Hird has hit back at his former assistant Mark ‘Bomber’ Thompson, who declared the club was “drowning” under the weight of the ongoing supplements saga.

Speaking on radio station 3AW, Thompson said the club’s players had been damaged mentally by the situation.

“The club is just treading water, going backwards – it’s drowning,” he said.

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“You look at the playing group, which is the most important, most significant group of people in the brand of Essendon – they’re just nowhere, they’re lost.

“We’ve damaged them mentally.

“We’ve taken away their life in so many ways.”

But, after another week from hell ended with the club’s first loss to GWS, Hird said he was stunned by those comments.

“I think everyone was a bit flabbergasted by that, the players were genuinely flabbergasted by those comments,” Hird said.

“I’m not going to get into a slanging match with Mark Thompson.

“Mark has been an Essendon premiership player, a terrific person at Essendon.

“He’s done some good things here, but that’s not in anyone’s best interests I don’t think.”

Thompson was Essendon interim coach last year as Hird served a 12-month AFL suspension.

His comments came a few days after another media leak about their anti-doping saga.

The World Anti-Doping Agency is said to have new evidence for its appeal against 34 current and past Essendon players.

Essendon started well on Sunday, but GWS kicked 11 goals to four in the second half for the 14.9 (93) to 8.13 (61) win.

– with AAP