It didn't take long for the AFL to get back to Essendon. By 5 p.m. the Club had received a fax from the Secretary of the Appeal Board, confirming the decision of the Chairperson to refuse legal representation and setting the hearing down for 5 p.m. the next evening.

Basher McGee arrived with Evans fifteen minutes before the appeals hearing. This time he was taking no chances, smuggling his star player through a side door and up the rear stairs. At precisely 5 p.m. the three members of the Appeals Board took their seats: Edward Langley QC, a well known senior barrister with a long involvement in sports; Mary Richards, a sports lawyer and the first female member of an AFL Tribunal; and Ronnie Robucks, a retired Collingwood Board member known for his outspoken early support for interstate football.

Langley explained that the Appeal Board would hear the whole case again, including the evidence submitted in the original hearing and any new evidence available to the Club or the AFL.

Basher McGee made it clear that he believed Evans should have been allowed legal representation, and that there had not been enough time to properly prepare the appeal. Langley noted the objections, but seemed otherwise indifferent.

The evidence proceeded similarly to that of the first hearing, but this time, after the video was shown, the Reporting Officer called a new witness, an expert in television production and cinematography.

"Essendon has sought to include the evidence of this witness," he explained, "and to that end, pursuant to the Rules, they duly notified the Secretary of the Appeal Board as to the witness's expert qualifications and the substance of the evidence he will give."

McGee first established that the witness did not barrack for Essendon. In fact, in a nice irony highlighted in the next morning’s newspapers, the expert proudly declared himself a passionate and lifelong Carlton supporter.

Using a laser pointer, a wide screen television and a digital VCR, he explained in some detail why the angle of the Footy Cable camera made it impossible to conclude whether Evans had struck Broadbent with his elbow.

"The elbow could be a foot away from his head and you’d never know it from the film." He replayed the video in slow motion, frame by frame. "You can see there’s no evidence of actual contact, otherwise you’d notice some reaction in Broadbent’s head."

"So would you say that it cannot be proved that Evans made contact with Broadbent?"

"That’s right, there’s no way you can be sure at all. In fact, given the lack of reaction from Broadbent, on balance I'd say it was improbable. More likely Broadbent was hit on the bottom of the pack by another player altogether."

The members of the Appeals Board took only ten minutes to consider their judgement.

Langley read from a sheet before him: "With respect to the evidence of the expert, we only comment that such evidence, if accepted as absolute, would render all video evidence as virtually without merit, or require the Tribunal to employ its own expert for every hearing in which the validity of such evidence was challenged. In this case we deem it of no probative value. In all other respects the decision of the Tribunal is confirmed."

The media had twigged to the ruse, so that McGee and Evans were met with a barrage of cameras and microphones when they tried to exit by the side door. Both were well aware that the AFL Rules forbade any criticism of the decision.

"No comment," Basher yelled as he used his elbow to clear a path through the throng.

By eight the next morning another meeting was already in progress. The participants, members of the Essendon Board of Directors, were justifiably anxious. The President of the club, supermarket magnate Mike Gold, summed up the feeling of all present: "This could cost us the premiership, and we all know that's worth a million in extra revenue". Within minutes he was on the phone to the senior partner of the law firm that had represented the club for the last thirty years.