For the past 26 months parents Bernie and Amanda Crameri from Maryborough have lived through the Essendon supplements saga, and while they were always confident of a favourable outcome, the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s verdict have been tense.

Stewart Crameri is now preparing for his second season at the Western Bulldogs, but previously spent four years at Essendon, including 2012 when the Bombers undertook their controversial supplements program.

“It’s obviously a good result for Stewie and the rest of the boys... I shed a bit of a tear when I heard the news,” Bernie said.

“It has certainly been an interesting couple of years.

“You’d forget about it for a while and then you’d hear something to bring it back up and it has been tense the past few weeks, but I’ve always believed this would be the outcome.

“I’ve never believed they’ve taken anything banned because there were so many people involved without it being picked up that something could be wrong.

“We’re talking about the Essendon Football Club... there’s a lot of good people there and I just couldn’t believe that anything could go wrong. That’s what I’ve believed all along.”

Despite the drain of the past two years, Bernie harbours no ill-feeling towards Essendon, and described coach James Hird as like a father-figure to Stewart while his son was at the Bombers.

“James really looked after Stewie. Stewie would go around and have a meal at his place every couple of weeks, so he was like a father-figure to him,” Bernie said.

Bernie spoke to Stewart on Wednesday morning.

“We had a chat this morning and he’s obviously very happy,” Bernie said.

“He’s a bit underdone having not played any practice matches, but he says he’ll be right for the Bulldogs on Saturday night if he’s picked.”