Bombers scandal: charged, <redacted> and <infracted>

[Biffen 12,940]

Sweet.

WJ and Redleg were on the money.

Toll will cover the bill.

But I but Tanya will have a sour puss after this.

[rjay 24,852]

Middleton J's decision.

Justice John Middletons full ruling against Essendon and James Hird in the Federal Court

Brilliantly put together and a very difficult finding to appeal against.

Of course, the Bombers won some time and will win more time in the unlikely event that they appeal but it's as damaging a defeat as you can get. An innings and 350 runs.

'Jack', I'm not a legal man but I listened to Middleton on SEN and he really covered all bases. Very impressive. He really tipped a bucket on the attack on Andruska.

[Bitter but optimistic 22,218]

Sweet.

WJ and Redleg were on the money.

Toll will cover the bill.

But I but Tanya will have a sour puss after this.

Sucking on a lemon will do that to you.

Edited September 19, 2014 by Bitter but optimistic

[Biffen 12,940]

Sucking on lemons will do that to you.

No wonder Jimmy went to France for a "study tour".

[Moonshadow 17,675]

I thought Middleton was suffering from severe morning sickness? When did she arrive in Oz?

[Biffen 12,940]

I thought Middleton was suffering from severe morning sickness? When did she arrive in Oz?

Not the princess Moon,

but in her case she will never "arrive" socially.

Too common.

[Bitter but optimistic 22,218]

I thought Middleton was suffering from severe morning sickness? When did she arrive in Oz?

Not the princess Moon,

but in her case she will never "arrive" socially.

Too common.

Show some respect you trolls. You are both fated to remain commoners. Accept your pathetic lot and do not question your superiors.

[Biffen 12,940]

Show some respect you trolls. You are both fated to remain commoners. Accept your pathetic lot and do not question your superiors.

Didn't know you harboured monarchist sentiments.

As you are aware I hate to offend and sincerely regret any slight on our fair rulers.

[dees189227 12,368]

I seriously thought today that because its the golden boy then the judge would find that asada did the wrong thing. So when I checked my phone today in my break and saw the headline I laughed.

Then I laughed again when I saw the golden boy and Little walk out of court. The funniest thing is they have to pay ASADAS legal fees as well.

Imagine the cost if they appeal, which would be a waste of time. Then next thing they will be hassling the members for money.

[whatwhat say what 22,671]

Ryder has walked.

[DemonOX 8,779]

Ryder has walked.

Old news DA!

Was announced before tonight's game.

Try and keep up!!!!

[titan_uranus 24,970]

This case has set another unrelated but incredibly significant precedent. The Judge referred to the fact the players had entered into binding contracts with the AFL to be investigated and give up their right to avoid self incrimination and that contractual agreement is binding. This is the first time these contracts have ever been commented on in the Courts. The significance of this is that the court is saying the Clubs and Players contractual obligations with the League are binding. These contracts include the salary cap and the draft. In the past there have been rumours of threats by Eddie No Where that if he didn't get what he wanted he would get the salary cap etc set aside for being anti competitive but the Court is saying if you sign a contract to be part of the AFL it is binding. People have often wondered what would happen if a player or Club took it to court. Well here is the answer.

There has never been a suggestion that the playing contracts signed by AFL players are not binding. The anti-competitive argument raised in regards to the salary cap (and the draft) is completely unrelated to whether there are binding contracts signed by players.

[Uncle Fester 2,848]

Self inflicted wounds are always the ugliest

[MadAsHell 4,212]

Makes me sick listening the the commentators on Channel 7 still going on about how the club has been through enough,,,,,

No! The supporters & players have been through enough. The club/admin deserve everything that they're getting. If they had of just swallowed some humble pie early last year, then the whole thing would be over bye now. Instead we're seeing it dragging on into a 3rd AFL season due to the club and (most importantly) Hird's arrogance.

[monoccular 17,413]

Ryder has walked.

The dam wall has been breached - the greatest flood since Noah awaits, perhaps???

[Whispering_Jack 29,764]

A round up of the media ...

James Hirds time at Essendon is over

Legal shirtfront flattens Hird, Bombers

Essendon verdict judge exposes the club's weak and frivolous case

James Hirds fate in hands of players after Federal Court failure

ASADA trumps Essendon in Federal Court battle

... and no coverage of the doping saga would be complete without Caro

Essendon pays for misguided approach

[Return to Glory 8,411]

And yet they will undoubtedly press on.

[sue 9,096]

Gotta hand it to Robinson. In the Hun he says:

Gut feel says Hird and Essendon will likely appeal because they believe their legal argument was not addressed by Middleton.

Robinson may believe their legal argument was not addressed, but I doubt if Hird & Little are that stupid when the judgement was as clear as a bell. If they do appeal it will be part of a strategy to drag this out for so long that the players will be claiming their age pension before it is all finalised.

[jnrmac 20,053]

I think that must be their strategy. It is always possible that a stupid litigant will instruct his lawyers to pursue a foolish case regardless of advice, but there are surely enough people at Essendon to have intervened to stop that. So dragging things out for years might well be their strategy. Might even been seen as club bonding - us against the world etc. The AFL which doesn't want a 10 player Essendon team next year may be quite happy for this to go on for years in the background too.

But it carries risks. A few cracks could become rifts, Ryder's could abound. But maybe that is less to them and the AFL than the risk of having a decimated team in the short run.

There are already 12 players gone. By years end that might be up to 20.

Next year most will have gone...

[Return to Glory 8,411]

Gotta hand it to Robinson. In the Hun he says:

Gut feel says Hird and Essendon will likely appeal because they believe their legal argument was not addressed by Middleton.

Robinson may believe their legal argument was not addressed, but I doubt if Hird & Little are that stupid when the judgement was as clear as a bell. If they do appeal it will be part of a strategy to drag this out for so long that the players will be claiming their age pension before it is all finalised.

Sue, stupid no but both believe in their infallibility. I think Little may get rolled in the coming months and Bomber finds himself coaching them next year (which is probably the players preferred option).

[jazza 1,323]

Not the princess Moon,

but in her case she will never "arrive" socially.

Too common.

The princess doesnt "arrive", she COMES.

[Cards13 9,117]

Caught about 5 mins of news last night which just happened to be ABC sports news. Slobbo's statement sounds a lot like the bloke interviewed during the ABC report. Martin Hardie, a lecturer in law at Deakin uni, who has been all over ASADA from day 1. I cant link his Deakin blog for some reason but he is right in Cronulla's corner so much so that in the snippet of Dank leaving the court yesterday Hardie was in the foreground leaving ahead of Dank and was wearing a Cronulla Sharks hoodie. He then initially, quite strangely, looked to be trying to assist Dank by shepherding the camera's away from Dank. So odd I had to rewind the report to view it again and he clearly jumped in front of the oncoming cameras in the first grab of Dank leaving the court. The fact Slobbo is parroting this guy just confirms in my mind Slobbo has no idea and Hardie seems to have an agenda based on his blog.

[Lucifers Hero 39,524]

From HS: 'Bombers coach James Hird leaves for San Francisco this morning to complete an international business course..." How much training does this guy need? Did he not learn anything in France? Perhaps a course in humility and taking responsibility might help.

Just stunning that he would leave now. You would think he would stay to try and shore up his players (that he ostensibly cares so much about) that are being wooed by other clubs.

Hird must be the reincarnation of Narcissus himself!!

[jabberwocky 2,301]

A round up of the media ...

James Hird’s time at Essendon is over

From above

In his affidavit to the Federal Court he stated: “I believe that if show cause notices are issued to current or former Essendon players by ASADA this would give rise to immeasurable and irremediable damage to my reputation, my earning capacity as an AFL coach and my business interests external to Essendon and the AFL.

But it's all about the players....

[Whispering_Jack 29,764]

The man behind this circus, and whose honest co-operation with the doping investigators could have avoided much of the pain it has brought to the football world, was in court yesterday. Stephen Dank sat with Deakin University law lecturer and Bomber apologist Martin Hardie behind the Essendon camp. It was reported by one observer that he was "talking with him through the verdict".

Dank's view of the outcome:-

"This is an extremely disappointing result for the players. They haven't taken banned or illegal substances. The players' rights have been simply thrown to the side of the road in an inept display of legal jurisdiction by the AFL and ASADA, and this ineptitude has been fully supported by the decision handed down today. However, the fight rolls on and Essendon should have little trouble winning the appeal."

Stephen Dank says the fight rolls on after Federal Court ruling

Dank was displaying as much knowledge of law as he was of banned substances when he told Age investigative reporters Baker and McKenzie in April 2013 that TB4 was legal under the WADA Code. This case was not about whether or not the players took illegal substances. It was about whether, in investigating the Essendon doping programme of 2011/2, ASADA had acted beyond its powers.

Middleton made a number of findings of fact and law that led him to decide ASADA had acted lawfully in conducting a joint investigation (until August 2013) with the AFL. He found as fact that the Essendon camp's attempt to impugn the testimony of ASADA CEO Aurora Andraska was unfounded and that she was a truthful witness. He also found that the co-operation given by Hird and the Essendon players to the AFL was based on their contractual obligations to the AFL, they gave their evidence freely without objection and with the knowledge of their legal rights. He acknowledged as valid the interim report of August 2013 which led to the sanctions against Essendon on governance grounds.

He even went as far as adding that even had he made a ruling in Essendon's favour on its claims about the nature of the joint venture he would have exercised his judicial discretion in such matters and would have been disinclined to make orders ruling out some or all of the evidence gathered by ASADA during the course of the investigation.

In short, he agreed with ASADA's counsel that Essendon and Hird's case was "nonsense on stilts" and dismissed it outright.

Middleton J covered virtually every base in the Essendon arsenal making it extremely difficult for a Full Court appeal to succeed but whether or not the Bombers and Hird do appeal after sending millions down the toilet in legal costs is another matter.

Despite the cost, Essendon might claim to have achieved some minor victories by resorting to the Federal Court to head off the show cause notices which were issued on 12 June, 2014 on the eve of Round 13 (they lost to Melbourne by 1 point on 15 June) when there were still ten rounds to go. The players could have taken the six month deal offered by ASADA at the time which would have meant missing half a season (including a finals game as it turned out). Some are now suggesting on the strength of the NRL deals that new ASADA CEO McDevitt will do a deal that would be backdated in time to see them back playing at the start of 2015. That would be a travesty and would turn Essendon's loss into a victory (albeit a costly one in terms of money spent) by giving the players a bonus of 10/11 games off thanks to their court challenge.

But Roy Masters doesn't believe the Bomber players will be so lucky - EssendonBombers could face 12 month bans following Federal Court ruling.

In any event, I don't believe a strategic appeal to a higher court would be vindicated. The players are jack of the situation and one of them (Paddy Ryder) has already indicated he wants out. Others are likely to follow and the Bombers may well have to go into damage control to prevent the bleeding in terms of loss of players and threats of upheaval from the membership.

They need to resolve board, coaching and staff issues (Little, Hird and Reid surely must go) as well as the status of players because the current uncertainty must have an effect on the issue of evaluating players if trades are to be done. Their entire recruiting strategy is at risk at a time when they still have to contend with draft penalties.

And if the sanctions against players are as tough as Masters believes, the Bombers might have to go to the AFL for some sort of draft assistance to help them form a viable team in 2015 - and we know what the football world thinks about that subject in the case of first time applicants .

Essendon is in a mess today and only has itself, its employees like Dank, Robinson, Hird etc to blame. As one observer stated a little while ago in The Footy Almanac, this was "the work of a club that not only has its head up its own arse but thinks that the view is spectacular."