The Essendon Crisis deepens

[Tatu 416]

I keep telling you the players are going to get off lightly!

i agree OD.... maybe there might be some disgruntled players who want out.... Who knows.... I'd be looking into that big time....

[CHAMP 347]

When the smoke has cleared and the dust has settled Paul Little could be a handy bloke to have around the club:

http://www.tandlnews.com.au/2012/01/17/article/order-of-australia-award-recognises-paul-littles-other-side/

[Rhino Richards 1,467]

Whilst I agree with Rhino that this amounts to one disgruntled employee with an axe to grind and is no smoking gun.What the Robinson's interview does do is point the media attack dogs in a direction. As we know once given a sniff they are relentless. The lead attack dog has been let off the leash by the AFL and right now has a whiff of Jimmy's arse.

The media have been onto Hird ever since this story broke on 5 Feb when Hird said he takes full responsibility for what went on. Ever since then he has been shying away.

This sad piece of bitterness adds nothing to what we already know.

But its clear Essendon have handled the Robinson departure from the Club poorly.

[Rhino Richards 1,467]

I cannot work out why Robinson was stood down on full pay and not contract terminated as of February 5.

By keeping him on the payroll did Essendon ensure silence, because he knew too much?...Knew the real details?

Did they want to starve him out and break his emotions, which seems to have happened if his wife spent 2 stints in hospital.

It is very murky & for Mark McViegh to sit there last night and just refute everything was just embarassing.

I was wishing Patrick Smith was on that desk.

Its pretty obvious given Robinson has had significant personal issues in dealing with his treatment by Essendon.

[Rhino Richards 1,467]

You have not heard of the idea that small fish get larger penalities than richer more important people Redleg?

Like Lance Armstrong and Marion Jones?

[Rhino Richards 1,467]

I keep telling you the players are going to get off lightly!

Based on what facts OD?

Peter Bruckner in the Age provides a pretty coherent summary of the situation.

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/essendon-players-escape-sanction-its-hard-to-see-why-20130801-2r10f.html

If ASADA establishes that Essendon players have taken a WADA banned substance then they will be subject to WADA sanctions.

Any exemption of Essendon players is definitely without precedent and contrary to the WADA guidelines and public comments.

"Fahey has also consistently cut through apparently blurry lines by underlining that one of the substances in question in both the AFL and NRL cases - AOD-9604 - is clearly a banned substance under WADA's rules, telling Fairfax Media recently: ''All that matters for an anti-doping violation, an ADV, is the WADA code. The simple facts here are there's a code, the athlete is bound by that code, the athlete is liable if there's a breach of that code or a violation under that code. Full stop.''

Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/sport/drug-probe-has-no-time-limit-fahey-20130731-2qzlz.html#ixzz2ahvn9FEK

[old dee 23,773]

Gut feel RR

I still think there is wriggle room in AOD 9604

However you and others may be right.

[Crackers 67]

Not sure about the wiggle room. If they had approval there would be no investigation into whether players were administered it. Thymosin Beta 4 might be a bigger issue if players took that.Has anyone else heard AOD-9604 has been banned by WADA pending it being approved as it is suspected it may act like a masking agent

[John Crow Batty 8,860]

Mr Liitle has slammed The Weapon in the Hun. The Weapon was full of distortions and mistruths he says. I dont think he is suggesting that The Weapon should have said the whole truth and nothing but the truth though.

[Mongrel Dee 56]

The first rule when accused is deny deny and deny. No matter the outcome, Jimmy Hird will have some poo stick to him for the rest of his life. He will blame everyone but himself so save his messiah like presence.

[daisycutter 29,600]

essendon seem to have the idea that if they stick together it will somehow save them...i don't get it

[Sir Why You Little 36,958]

WADA

The End.

[chookrat 4,247]

When the smoke has cleared and the dust has settled Paul Little could be a handy bloke to have around the club:

http://www.tandlnews.com.au/2012/01/17/article/order-of-australia-award-recognises-paul-littles-other-side/

Gold!

[Red and Bluebeard 2,083]

There seems to be a lot of disparity in what people think is fair for drug breaches.

Wade Lees, a VFL footballer, orders a supplement from overseas, never gets it because it is intercepted, doesn't know it is illegal, never even touches it and cops 18 months.

Saad could get 2 years for taking a drink he didn't know was illegal.

Bombers players have 20 injections, believing them to be legal and may get off completely.

Too right, Redleg. In my (old-fashioned) way of thinking, the professionals should be better informed than amateurs, and hence have harsher penalties, or at least the same level. However, that requires both people thinking like me and a large dollop of consistency in policing breaches, neither of which seems very likely, unfortunately.

[biggestred 5,014]

Too right, Redleg. In my (old-fashioned) way of thinking, the professionals should be better informed than amateurs, and hence have harsher penalties, or at least the same level. However, that requires both people thinking like me and a large dollop of consistency in policing breaches, neither of which seems very likely, unfortunately.

disagree here. WADA have shown a lot of consistency in their punishments.

[Red and Bluebeard 2,083]

disagree here. WADA have shown a lot of consistency in their punishments.

Here's hoping ...

[Whispering_Jack 29,764]

Too right, Redleg. In my (old-fashioned) way of thinking, the professionals should be better informed than amateurs, and hence have harsher penalties, or at least the same level. However, that requires both people thinking like me and a large dollop of consistency in policing breaches, neither of which seems very likely, unfortunately.

From the very first time I read about the Wade Lees case, this is what stood out in my mind. As a VFL player, Lees simply didn't have access to the information that AFL players get on the issue of drugs, nor do they have the infrastructure behind them that should, in the normal course, provide them with safety from exposure to banned substances. Yet Lees was suspended for the better part of two years and with that, went his chances of carving out an AFL career. It was reported that he couldn't afford the cost of mounting an appeal against the ruling that led to his banning.

Compare that to the might and power of Essendon and the AFL. The parties are gathering together a strong array of legal fire power. Hird's team includes expensive human rights QC Julian Burnside and the legal maneuvering threatens to be massive one way or another.

And despite what seems to me to be the obvious, it's still not cut and dried whether an adverse finding against the players will be handed down. I would have thought that the Bombers are cooked unless they can produce what we have yet to see - a document from ASADA suggesting that it was permissible for the players to be injected with AOD-9604.

It seems to me that Danks and co were well aware from the very outset that they needed this in place to validate that part of their programme - Dank urged to check on drug legality. The emails previously leaked to the media don't seem to do that and mysteriously, the Bombers don't seem to have the required documentation among their records.

[CHAMP 347]

"I would have thought that the Bombers are cooked unless they can produce what we have yet to see - a document from ASADA suggesting that it was permissible for the players to be injected with AOD-9604." (WJ)

If such papers ever existed surely they would have been produced at the outset.

If they did they no doubt went the way of the Dr Reid letter, into the bowels of a smoking-hot shredder in a frantic but inadvertent haste.

[hardtack 10,514]

And how Hird has hired Julian Burnside QC to take on his interests. Jimmy had better be hoping that Kumar Dharmasena is involved in the final judgement.

Edited August 1, 2013 by hardtack

[jnrmac 20,053]

And how Hird has hired Julian Burnside QC to take on his interests. Jimmy had better be hoping that Kumar Dharmasena is involved in the final judgement.

Yep its gone from " I take full responsibility" to "everyone just wait until the report is out and you will all see we have been vindicated" to " I'm getting a QC" and "we may fight the public release of the ASADA" report.

His crown slips further and further each passing moment. What a joke.

[Sir Why You Little 36,958]

Pressure is building...why would Essendon wish to withold the ASADA enquiry findings from the public if they are not guilty??

Another HBO episode written here!!

[rjay 24,852]

Pressure is building...why would Essendon wish to withold the ASADA enquiry findings from the public if they are not guilty??

Another HBO episode written here!!

It's not certain that they will but the moves from the Hird camp makes it look very likely.

Who is looking to be discredited now...Robinson, I don't think so.

Edited August 2, 2013 by rjay

[beelzebub 23,313]

I cant see how he ( Hird ) can possibly hope to have any findings kept 'occultum' Its in the public arena, let alone in the publics interest.

Suck it up Jimmy boy !!! oh btw...dont be asking for whom the bells toll lad !!! lol

[old dee 23,773]

It's not certain that they will but the moves from the Hird camp makes it look very likely.

Who is looking to be discredited now...Robinson, I don't think so.

The EFC's attitude has changed dramatically since the departure of Evans.

Since Little has taken over it is the opposite, attack everyone, defend at all costs.

It is an everything or nothing approach, it must be worrying the AFL.

The EFC is now pushing the AFL into a position of making it difficult for the AFL to defend them.

From the small amount I know about Little it is not unexpected.

He is someone who takes no prisoners, is used to getting his way and sees the world as you are either with us or against us.

Interesting couple of weeks ahead.

[Gorgoroth 12,920]

I did not have relations with that needle!