6 months is it. If they give up strong info that leads to a conviction then they can get 2 years reduced to 6 months.

Yeah but if asada don't have enough evidence to concvict anyone, the person who comes forward would go from 0 months (No conviction) to 6 months (reduced sentence).

Hahahahahaha, GO BOMBERS, ZAKAKAKAKA..

Agree mate, but I can't see ASADA/WADA buying into their story. I would have thought in a large organisation even what protein shakes players drink are recorded. I work in construction and failed a drug test, we soon discovered that a pre gym workout drink I had taken shared key ingredients of some party drugs. This triggered off the test. When I contacted the store they told me professional sports people are not permitted to take it. All that for a $70 tub from my local health store. In order for Essendon to see if their program was beneficial, record keeping would be essential. 40 + players x numerous substances.

ASADA would need proof that records did in fact exist and that they were actually destroyed. I accept your concern that appropriate records are not available. That in itself is appalling governance and definite cowboy country. But alleging EFC destroyed escorts would require proof. Such a charge will trigger a flurry of potential litigation from a number of parties including aggrieved players and the AFLPA.

BT: "huge breaking news on Hird".

Mark Stevens: "something might happen on Monday".

Told us what we already knew, huge story.

Just another thing Taylor got wrong tonight, his lack of understanding of what is happening on the ground is amazing.

Extraordinary result. I didn't think Essendon could do it but a Carlton loss and an Essendon exit from the finals on Monday is about as good as it gets.

Now for a Port Adelaide (and Melbourne) win next week.

Carlton are not very good, are they?

...and anyone who thought Mitch Robinson would be a good get, I hope you watched the game tonight. Lucky to be a 'C' grader, makes so many mistakes and dumb decisions I guess he would be right at home with us. A card carrying 'Dumb Footballer'.

ASADA would need proof that records did in fact exist and that they were actually destroyed. I accept your concern that appropriate records are not available. That in itself is appalling governance and definite cowboy country. But alleging EFC destroyed escorts would require proof. Such a charge will trigger a flurry of potential litigation from a number of parties including aggrieved players and the AFLPA.

Your right mate, the other thing that stinks is at the start I thought they said come clean now and we can talk or wait to be caught and have the book thrown at you. At no stage has Hird volunteered anything, all we here is we will answer to any allegations. To me that reeks of "ok they know we took a , b & c but if we if play our cards right they won't find out about d, e & f.

I

Carlton are not very good, are they?

...and anyone who thought Mitch Robinson would be a good get, I hope you watched the game tonight. Lucky to be a 'C' grader, makes so many mistakes and dumb decisions I guess he would be right at home with us. A card carrying 'Dumb Footballer'.

I reckon Casboult would be vying for that title.

A few plays in that last last 5 minutes

Did anyone else think that Hird having his daughter with him last night was staged managed? It could be that she has been through a bit too and he was trying to make her feel special. But to me it seemed more about trying to portray his image as a caring family man in response to the outcry from the mothers call earlier in the week.

He remained as smug as ever in his press conference and devoid of any genuine acceptance of responsibility.

Hird stated that ARCADA had given his players the All Clear, really?

STINGA, he has done that with his kids quite often. Nothing new

i thought his press conference was compelling viewing.

they normally last ten minutes, tops; this went for over 25. justin rodski, bombers' media manager, tried to shut it down, but hird wanted to keep talking. he's looking absolutely spent, but his team keeps on keeping on. (peptides might've helped there.)

So, infraction notices haven't been issued to the players. From all reports that's on its way.

What I want to know, how would the players feel if the architect of the drugs program, James Hird, is given (or accepts) a 12 month ban and the players get 24 month sentences?

It would be an interesting welcome back party for the players... wouldn't it?

STINGA, he has done that with his kids quite often. Nothing new

Ok I hadn't noticed it in the past and thought it convenient timing. Fair enough.

As a Melbourne supporter as much as I hate to say it you do have to admire their resilience under pressure.

Any ban or sanctions to hird or essendon on Monday will purely be regarding governance issues.

If asada bring infraction notices, his and Essendon will be charged again. Coaches stand to get up to 4 years ban.

A hird

winner

So, infraction notices haven't been issued to the players. From all reports that's on its way.

What I want to know, how would the players feel if the architect of the drugs program, James Hird, is given (or accepts) a 12 month ban and the players get 24 month sentences?

It would be an interesting welcome back party for the players... wouldn't it?

cant see them getting any more than a year.

Curiosity thing to me is I seem to remember something about a two player clause. This invokes a ban on the team . Happy to have this illuminated

SD: You only get a receipt number when you ring up or online. I was straight inside the bowels of ASADA.

Which probably explains why I get the feeling that Dank's head is up his <redacted>.

Bullying

Bombers hit hard

The phone call that "Sarah", mother of one of the Essendon players, made to Eddie McGuire on Triple M in Melbourne has been described as a game-changer by everyone who has heard it. She was sobbing at the thought that the club had used her son as "a guinea pig". This has rattled the Essendon club in a big way, especially James Hird. Behind the scenes, the Bombers are trying to rectify the situation any way they can and an approach has been made to Stephen Dank to speak to family members to assure them everything he did was not going to endanger their health. View the situation how you like but like the Cronulla situation, every player was told what was being injected and what's more, they were given the option of not taking part in the program. Dank has been asked by the media if he would inject his kids. It's a question he can't answer as he does not have children but he maintains his actions were not unsafe. The AFL report into Essendon painted Dank as incompetent and unprofessional. Perhaps the biggest swipe at him was the accusation that he worked in aseptic conditions - in other words, his environment was unclean and his practices were sloppy. Dank is fuming about the suggestion. He says he swabbed before and after injections, used gloves when administering the injections and wore gloves when he was giving players tablets. Dank met two of the leading experts in peptides from the USA at the weekend.

Great and I can't wait for ASADA to knock on his door and ask to who at Essendon he was injecting and giving tablets, what they were and to produce his records.

Then the players sue the club.

Oh yes ... and did I mention an investigation by Workcover?

Im not sure Hird is the architect of all this.... He played his part, but he is not alone....

Weren't most of these guys involved, at Geelong with bomber Thompson.... when they won there flags? Now we all know why Geelong's players are so much bigger then everybody else's..... I can't see how Bomber Thompson is in the clear here! If anything I'd say he is the architect....

Im also suss on the AFL involvement in all this.... How did the AFL know to call the Bombers, they day before this news broke? Did they know about this program? Have they turned a blind eye on program's like this before?

It all smells like corruption to me...

Your right mate, the other thing that stinks is at the start I thought they said come clean now and we can talk or wait to be caught and have the book thrown at you. At no stage has Hird volunteered anything, all we here is we will answer to any allegations. To me that reeks of "ok they know we took a , b & c but if we if play our cards right they won't find out about d, e & f.

Al,

If they have taken any of a,b and c then providing d,e,f is neither here nor there. They have used a banned substance. No room to be cute here for Essendon.

So, infraction notices haven't been issued to the players. From all reports that's on its way.

What I want to know, how would the players feel if the architect of the drugs program, James Hird, is given (or accepts) a 12 month ban and the players get 24 month sentences?

It would be an interesting welcome back party for the players... wouldn't it?

I dont think its clear yet that infraction notices will definitely be issued.

Any ban or sanctions to hird or essendon on Monday will purely be regarding governance issues.

If asada bring infraction notices, his and Essendon will be charged again. Coaches stand to get up to 4 years ban.

Agree. Mondays possible penalties are about governance primarily.

Its been a disgrace that Essendon up to Wednesday were holding out that they had done nothing wrong.

We have had six months of bulltish and narcissism. I cant believe its been so hard for them to deal with the chronic failure of governance.

They could have saved themselves and the football world a whole lot of time, money and public trust.

Ahh! The classic element of Greek ( or in this case maybe geek) tragedy - hubris.

Hirdipus Rex?

The overwhelming probability in my mind is that there were records - I don't believe any professional sporting organisation would embark on such an experimental program without keeping them. There may never be proof of the destruction of records assuming physically it was done properly.

Even so there may be circumstantial evidence. For example, if they deleted entire file systems and backups which included totally innocent stuff, you have to ask why they haven't got the innocent stuff available. I don't know how strong such evidence would be considered. The only other evidence will be if someone squeals, and then it will be their word against others.

The lack of records protects the players. The absence of it is proof of bad governance and any evidence of destruction is indication of a cover-up which as we know often hangs people more often than the original crime.