The gloves are well and truly off and battle lines drawn as Essendon coach James Hird battles valiantly to save his reputation.

And the fight to preserve the once-untarnished image of Hird Inc now appears as dirty as it is intriguing. The latest strike has come from Hird's camp and been aimed directly at AFL boss Andrew Demetriou, who is looming as more formidable an opponent than anyone who challenged Hird on the playing arena.

The view from the Hird camp is that Demetriou has been briefing against the Essendon coach.

It is true that the AFL remains extremely disappointed at the manner in which the club conducted itself over 2012 and firm in its belief that the players were innocent victims in the cavalier injecting program, but Demetriou appears determined, both publicly and privately, in urging the media to wait for the outcome of the ASADA report.

Hird's supporters on Tuesday leaked ASADA evidence from the Bombers coach that suggested Demetriou tipped off Essendon regarding links with banned drugs.

This revelation had no bearing on the final outcome of the investigation but, if extended to its most damaging assumption, could have seen Demetriou face prison for revealing confidential information passed on to him from the Australian Crime Commission.

The problem for Hird is that the ACC has cleared Demetriou and confirmed his claim that he had no confidential information that Essendon was a club with a drug problem. Demetriou's version of his conversation with Essendon chairman David Evans has been backed up by Evans.

Just what motivated Hird's supporters remains a mystery. Perhaps they feel that the AFL is determined to punish Hird for his role in the supplements scandal. Hird took full responsibility for his football department, but now, like so many others at Essendon, is apportioning blame elsewhere.

So by discrediting Demetriou, Hird's supporters, led by the formidable Liberal spin doctor Ian Hanke, have muddied the waters but in no way changed the fate of the players, which should be known in a matter of weeks. Hanke, currently holed up in Spring Street in the same building at the Victorian State Parliament press gallery, is just one of an impressive team. Some are being paid to preserve Hird's reputation and some are doing so because they admire him and genuinely believe his greatest sin was naivety.

Another senior Liberal identity has been working behind the scenes with at least one prominent Victorian to rally support for Hird. AFL commissioner and lifelong Bombers fan Bill Kelty was caught visiting Hird several months ago when the spotlight had turned to the Essendon coach.

Many work in the media and have been selectively given details of Hird's involvement in the program that has so damaged Essendon's reputation and tarnished the AFL. One of Hird's closest friends, Rod Law, is a senior executive at Fox Footy, and a key occasional mentor is Rupert Murdoch's international right-hand man, the Melbourne-born Essendon supporter Robert Thompson.

It always seemed strange that Hird had hired a separate legal team and public relations team to that of his club and his chairman and close friend Evans. Now, it has emerged that Hird and his football henchman Danny Corcoran, along with others in the football department, have become disenchanted with Evans' perceived ''soft'' decision to work hand in hand with the AFL chiefs in his attempt to place his players' interests above all.