On 03/10/2014 at 23:25, Amino Nothing said:

Interesting

He was very frank apparently in his initial interview with Roos. Its actually what sold Roos on him. He left nothing out and conceded ( apparently ) it wasnt a very clever thing and was a mistake. He took ownership and had remorse.... Just like that other bloke !!!! lol

  On 03/10/2014 at 23:48, beelzebub said:

And I think she'll still be right

So does she. She said on FC that it will happen in a few more days.

How come we don't see Timmy Watson doing those ads for Musachi amino acids anymore?

  On 03/10/2014 at 23:52, Redleg said:

So does she. She said on FC that it will happen in a few more days.

I think Little underestimated the stupidity and arrogance of his co- litigant. He got caught pants down .

I think hes since addressed his wardrobe and adorned more silk !!!

Maybe Caro was initially right and Essendon changed their minds to sack him at the last minute. Obviously this was thrashed out at the board meeting and no doubt there were divided opinions there. Possibly due to reassessing their legal positions or giving Hird a final chance to resign, reconsider the legal action or make him another deal offer. Lots of plausible scenarios to stall the sacking.

  On 04/10/2014 at 00:11, america de cali said:

Maybe Caro was initially right and Essendon changed their minds to sack him at the last minute. Obviously this was thrashed out at the board meeting and no doubt there were divided opinions there. Possibly due to reassessing their legal positions or giving Hird a final chance to resign, reconsider the legal action or make him another deal offer. Lots of plausible scenarios to stall the sacking.

I think he was definitely for the chop that day but he out gunned Little.

  On 04/10/2014 at 00:15, beelzebub said:

I think he was definitely for the chop that day but he out gunned Little.

That would put it in the reconsidering legal position scenario. I fail to see an end game that does not include Hird's removal though.

  On 04/10/2014 at 00:22, america de cali said:

That would put it in the reconsidering legal position scenario. I fail to see an end game that does not include Hird's removal though.

Nor do I ....but the path required and the Toll paid may differ !!!

I played golf yesterday with a mate who just recently attended an Essendon Past Players day. He rubbed shoulders with some very wealthy supporters who tip in a big quid to the club. None of them want Hird as coach. Caro got it right. If it wasn't for the liklelihood of a whopping payout Hird would have been sacked on Wednesday.

  On 03/10/2014 at 21:41, Biffen said:

I really feel for Tanya at this time.

She is the forgotten victim in all this.

Surely this is tongue in cheek?

Chief cheerleader.

  On 04/10/2014 at 00:15, beelzebub said:

I think he was definitely for the chop that day but he out gunned Little.

Little lacked the balls: should have called in Matty Whelan to do the job for him/

  On 03/10/2014 at 23:46, Whispering_Jack said:

True and very admirable of her but, as we know, it's not the first time she was caught out ... and caught out she was, which really made the admission necessary. Her problem was that she failed to get confirmation of Hird's sacking from a primary source and went with the story anyway.

Caro's main source of information is said to be the AFL itself and, in this case, her informant might have believed that Hird was gone but it seems that in the final moment the sacking didn't happen, perhaps on legal advice.

Caro does get things wrong from time to time. She's not infallible and, of course, she writes opinion pieces as well so whilst she might have flawed views from time to time, she rarely finds the need to apologise for those.

On the supplements/drug saga she's benefitted from some excellent journalists who work also for Fairfax but she recently got things badly wrong on the FDA status of AOD9604 and I don't recall her publishing a correction or retraction. Her agenda in this saga has been directed mainly at the golden boy and that's where in my view, she's been exposed the most (much in the same way that her agenda coloured her reporting and views on tanking).

At least, as long as the current hierarchy at Melbourne is in bed with the powers at the AFL, she's been reasonably soft on us. I don't know yet whether that's a blessing or not.

The truly annoying thing about Caro is that her whole journalistic method is to report ONLY on sackings.

Every article from her in the past fortnight has been about "sackin" Hird, the Essendon Board, the Adelaide Board etc. That's why we copped such a shellacking from her last year. Now we don't have anyone to sack she doesn't write about us.

Not a single article about the actual scandal of this drug taking. That was left to Emma Quayle and John Pierik. The biggest story in football for probably 50 years and she hasn't written about it!

When she writes about ANY goings on at Richmond then I'll take her seriously.

  On 04/10/2014 at 01:30, george_on_the_outer said:

The truly annoying thing about Caro is that her whole journalistic method is to report ONLY on sackings.

Every article from her in the past fortnight has been about "sackin" Hird, the Essendon Board, the Adelaide Board etc. That's why we copped such a shellacking from her last year. Now we don't have anyone to sack she doesn't write about us.

Not a single article about the actual scandal of this drug taking. That was left to Emma Quale and John Pierik. The biggest story in football for probably 50 years and she hasn't written about it!

When she writes about ANY goings on at Richmond then I'll take her seriously.

Forgive me if this has already been posted elsewhere: Caroline Wilson's Story Writing Template

  On 03/10/2014 at 23:46, Whispering_Jack said:

True and very admirable of her but, as we know, it's not the first time she was caught out ... and caught out she was, which really made the admission necessary. Her problem was that she failed to get confirmation of Hird's sacking from a primary source and went with the story anyway.

Caro's main source of information is said to be the AFL itself and, in this case, her informant might have believed that Hird was gone but it seems that in the final moment the sacking didn't happen, perhaps on legal advice.

Caro does get things wrong from time to time. She's not infallible and, of course, she writes opinion pieces as well so whilst she might have flawed views from time to time, she rarely finds the need to apologise for those.

On the supplements/drug saga she's benefitted from some excellent journalists who work also for Fairfax but she recently got things badly wrong on the FDA status of AOD9604 and I don't recall her publishing a correction or retraction. Her agenda in this saga has been directed mainly at the golden boy and that's where in my view, she's been exposed the most (much in the same way that her agenda coloured her reporting and views on tanking).

At least, as long as the current hierarchy at Melbourne is in bed with the powers at the AFL, she's been reasonably soft on us. I don't know yet whether that's a blessing or not.

Still think Caro is the best journalist working in the Afl. In the best traditions of investigative journalism, she goes without fear of favour (with the possible exception of the Tiger - but can be very critical of them too) and is one tough cookie which I must say I like and admire.

She has been utterly relentless in pursuing the Essendon story when many in the Essendon, the players association, AFL, their heavy of collective lawyers were trying to shut her up. She quite rightly got journo of the year. I venture to suggest the truth would not have come out without her dogged persistence, with a bit of help from Patrick Smith, and absolutely no help from that [censored] Mark Robinson

  On 04/10/2014 at 01:38, I Give a Gawnski said:

Forgive me if this has already been posted elsewhere: Caroline Wilson's Story Writing Template

And a good deal of botox (or photoshop) in the accompanying photo

  On 04/10/2014 at 01:51, Dees2014 said:

Still think Caro is the best journalist working in the Afl. In the best traditions of investigative journalism, she goes without fear of favour (with the possible exception of the Tiger - but can be very critical of them too) and is one tough cookie which I must say I like and admire.

She has been utterly relentless in pursuing the Essendon story when many in the Essendon, the players association, AFL, their heavy of collective lawyers were trying to shut her up. She quite rightly got journo of the year. I venture to suggest the truth would not have come out without her dogged persistence, with a bit of help from Patrick Smith, and absolutely no help from that [censored] Mark Robinson

Oh the other thing about Caro to remember is that she only knows about the afl. She was positively embarrassing when she went to the London Olympics where it became rapidly clear she knew nothing about Olympics sports. At the Olympics she was almost as ignorant as Tracy Holmes which is really saying something - incidentally positively Robinsonesque in her bias and support for Hird.

  On 04/10/2014 at 01:56, monoccular said:

And a good deal of botox (or photoshop) in the accompanying photo

Relevance?

  On 04/10/2014 at 01:30, george_on_the_outer said:

The truly annoying thing about Caro is that her whole journalistic method is to report ONLY on sackings.

Every article from her in the past fortnight has been about "sackin" Hird, the Essendon Board, the Adelaide Board etc. That's why we copped such a shellacking from her last year. Now we don't have anyone to sack she doesn't write about us.

Not a single article about the actual scandal of this drug taking. That was left to Emma Quale and John Pierik. The biggest story in football for probably 50 years and she hasn't written about it!

When she writes about ANY goings on at Richmond then I'll take her seriously.

Thats rubbish.

Here is a link to the Age website on Caroline Wilson

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/by/caroline-wilson

A clear case of seeing what you want to see.

You are still smarting from the shell lacking she rightly gave MFC last year.

And she is now turning the blowtorch on EFC and Adelaide.

And she was the first and foremost journalist last year that called for James Hird and others to stand aside for the appalling disaster that is Essendon.

  On 03/10/2014 at 23:46, Whispering_Jack said:

True and very admirable of her but, as we know, it's not the first time she was caught out ... and caught out she was, which really made the admission necessary. Her problem was that she failed to get confirmation of Hird's sacking from a primary source and went with the story anyway.

Caro's main source of information is said to be the AFL itself and, in this case, her informant might have believed that Hird was gone but it seems that in the final moment the sacking didn't happen, perhaps on legal advice.

Caro does get things wrong from time to time. She's not infallible and, of course, she writes opinion pieces as well so whilst she might have flawed views from time to time, she rarely finds the need to apologise for those.

On the supplements/drug saga she's benefitted from some excellent journalists who work also for Fairfax but she recently got things badly wrong on the FDA status of AOD9604 and I don't recall her publishing a correction or retraction. Her agenda in this saga has been directed mainly at the golden boy and that's where in my view, she's been exposed the most (much in the same way that her agenda coloured her reporting and views on tanking).

At least, as long as the current hierarchy at Melbourne is in bed with the powers at the AFL, she's been reasonably soft on us. I don't know yet whether that's a blessing or not.

She makes fewer errors than her contemporaries and when she does err she normally calls it out. Many of her peers in the industry dont do that at all and they have more chance

And you dont know who her sources are but you wish to paint a narrative to back your view. Its quite plausible that her sources on Hird have come from inside the inner sanctum of EFC who for a long time have been at legal logger heads with the AFL. We dont know.

And I think Patrick Smith on Friday provided a very good explanation of the disposition of Hird. From that article there is no doubt that the EFC Board want to be rid of Hird but it would appear Hird wont go voluntarily and will sue for heaven and earth if sacked. Hird is cornered and friendless and is rolling the dice on matters in a last ditch effort to reclaim some ground. But it is consistent across the media (sans Robbo) that if EFC is going to sack Hird then Hird will take them with him.

So long as MFC does not return to the shambles it was before Jackson righted the ship, there will be nothing to report.

The same cannot be said for either Adelaide or Essendon at the moment.

  On 03/10/2014 at 13:16, biggestred said:

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/essendon-ceo-xavier-campbell-took-peptide-melanotan-according-to-asada-interim-report/story-fnp04d70-1227079584643

hows the culture of the place??

a coach recommends and gives a drug thats illegal to buy to a staff member.

youve got to be kidding me

This club was more potent in 2012 than The Rolling Stones Tour Jet from 1972.

They all put on the tornaquay and took a hit..

  On 03/10/2014 at 21:57, Whispering_Jack said:

How true. Tanya is being painted as the Lady Macbeth of this scenario but in truth, the Shakespeare epic records nothing about the taking of copious notes about the things that transpired in the castle or upon the heath. Tanya doesn't have a dog called Spot either.

It was a bloody disobedient dog too.

  On 04/10/2014 at 02:44, Qwerty30 said:

She makes fewer errors than her contemporaries and when she does err she normally calls it out. Many of her peers in the industry dont do that at all and they have more chance

And you dont know who her sources are but you wish to paint a narrative to back your view. Its quite plausible that her sources on Hird have come from inside the inner sanctum of EFC who for a long time have been at legal logger heads with the AFL. We dont know.

And I think Patrick Smith on Friday provided a very good explanation of the disposition of Hird. From that article there is no doubt that the EFC Board want to be rid of Hird but it would appear Hird wont go voluntarily and will sue for heaven and earth if sacked. Hird is cornered and friendless and is rolling the dice on matters in a last ditch effort to reclaim some ground. But it is consistent across the media (sans Robbo) that if EFC is going to sack Hird then Hird will take them with him.

So long as MFC does not return to the shambles it was before Jackson righted the ship, there will be nothing to report.

The same cannot be said for either Adelaide or Essendon at the moment.

Hey Qwerty30. I said the AFL is "one of her main sources" because I've been told by a number of sources that I regards as being extremely reliable that she is one of the first people in the journalistic profession who the AFL will give a story to and I know enough about the profession works in other spheres to know also that there's always an element of "scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" about these things. Caro does a lot of shilling for the AFL but she also does have other sources. That she had an agenda against Schwab and co is hardly surprising; nor is it surprising that other journalists will from time to time readily do the bidding of clubs to help out mates or because they happen to support them and they needs media support (cue Robbo).

What you say about Hird's tenuous hold on the coaching role is obvious to every man and his dog and Patrick Smith has been an almost lone voice at News Limited in this respect. However, at Fairfax where Caro sits on the throne, there are as both George and I mentioned, others who have been right on the button with this story and provided her substantial support in that respect.

As to the situation at Melbourne, we all would like to hope that PJ has "righted the ship" as you claim. I wish I could be as confident of that as you are and time will tell. However, there's never been a definitive analysis of what really happened and who was responsible for steering the ship towards the rocks. I have a belief that you need to look at our malaise with a long term view; that our problems stemmed from issues that arose a long time ago and that our ranks at the top have been divided for far too long. We've been in conflict for decades. The issues came to a head with the merger, the fight against Gutnick, the Szondy era, the helplessness of the Gardner era, the wall we hit with Jimmy's illness and the divisiveness within the ranks during the McLardy era. Wilson et al never really even skimmed the top of the issues that afflicted our club and a better journalist might be able to make a good fist of it. I've discussed this with one or two journos who think it would make a good story but the time's not right yet.

I agree with that not for journalistic reasons but because we are still at a very low ebb, both on an off the field and because four wins in 2014 stands starkly as evidence that whatever Jackson might have done, he has definitely not righted the ship - yet. The story should come out when we're at where Port Adelaide is today.

  On 03/10/2014 at 13:16, biggestred said:

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/essendon-ceo-xavier-campbell-took-peptide-melanotan-according-to-asada-interim-report/story-fnp04d70-1227079584643

hows the culture of the place??

a coach recommends and gives a drug thats illegal to buy to a staff member.

youve got to be kidding me

Got a bad feeling that unnamed assistant coach might now be a Demon

Whether she has the AFL as one of her sources is neither here nor there. And it did not need an "agenda" for all to see Schwab's incompetence.

As for PJ....in 12 months he has slashed administrative fat out of the operating costs, turned a small profit in poor onfield year, put in place a coaching succession plan, rebuilt AFL confidence in the running of the Club and most of all prevented the club from repeatedly shooting itself in the foot with a range off field.

And thanks for the recent history of the club. I trust your journalistic friends will check the quality and source of the information before they commit to print.

  On 04/10/2014 at 02:26, Qwerty30 said:

Relevance?

No relevance. Just an observation, if that's ok.

  On 04/10/2014 at 04:29, Qwerty30 said:

Whether she has the AFL as one of her sources is neither here nor there. And it did not need an "agenda" for all to see Schwab's incompetence.

As for PJ....in 12 months he has slashed administrative fat out of the operating costs, turned a small profit in poor onfield year, put in place a coaching succession plan, rebuilt AFL confidence in the running of the Club and most of all prevented the club from repeatedly shooting itself in the foot with a range off field.

And thanks for the recent history of the club. I trust your journalistic friends will check the quality and source of the information before they commit to print.

I get that's your position, that there are plenty of others who hold it and are entitled to have those views.

It's just that I don't accept the narrow view of history that goes with the acceptance of the theory. I believe there's a lot more to all this that meets the eye, that it requires a disinterested observer to research and chronicle the club's recent history and that at some stage in the future the truth will come out (and if they're competent they'll check their information a little more thoroughly and competently than Wilson did on the "sacking" of Hird and on the AOD9604 matter which I referred to above).

Whether it ends up being in agreement with your particular view is something that may or may not be recognised at some future time. Hopefully, we'll find out one way or the other but that's not what this thread is about.

Nevertheless, the same thing holds for the Essendon saga and, contrary to what you say, I do believe Caro's sources and her agenda are very relevant to how she presents her narrative because of her agenda and the way she tries to push her opinions as fact. There's a lawyer by the name of Martin Hardie who I've quoted here in the past. His views are unambiguously pro-Essendon and he's writing a book on this saga that will no doubt paint James Hird as an angel right out of heaven. I won't believe him either.