THE SAGA CONTINUES - WADA APPEALS

[Ted Lasso 17,123]

The lawyers would have worked all this out within 24 hours of that original press conference at AFL House in Feb 2013....DELAY EVERYTHING....and again and again....

Dream job, delay everything, line their pockets in the process.

[Wells 11 4,873]

The lawyers would have worked all this out within 24 hours of that original press conference at AFL House in Feb 2013....DELAY EVERYTHING....and again and again....

Delay everything AND blame!! Blame the delays on CAS...plus blame the AFL. Essendon think tank....Our tactics will be to blame and delay and give Slobbo and extra bottle of whisky or 2 every week so he'll be totally under our control and wont even notice.

The players will take the heat but NO ONE higher up there will take any of it for them. Hird is innocent, so is Reid, so is Evans so is Little ...hell even Dank is innocent ( ask him) and the players ( well we cant blame them as they're clearly the victims here) So actually everyone is innocent. I just dont know how they managed the most organised, ongoing and illegal drug ruse in the games history when everyone was so innocent. But look, its all gone on for so long now and the players have suffered enough and the public has had enough so please lets just all move along now. vomit.

[Sir Why You Little 34,923]

Delay everything AND blame!! Blame the delays on CAS...plus blame the AFL. Essendon think tank....Our tactics will be to blame and delay and give Slobbo and extra bottle of whisky or 2 every week so he'll be totally under our control and wont even notice.

The players will take the heat but NO ONE higher up there will take any of it for them. Hird is innocent, so is Reid, so is Evans so is Little ...hell even Dank is innocent ( ask him) and the players ( well we cant blame them as they're clearly the victims here) So actually everyone is innocent. I just dont know how they managed the most organised, ongoing and illegal drug ruse in the games history when everyone was so innocent. But look, its all gone on for so long now and the players have suffered enough and the public has had enough so please lets just all move along now. vomit.

i agree totally...It amazes me that the players have been such "good little boys" for so long....

[Dees2014 2,377]

The lawyers would have worked all this out within 24 hours of that original press conference at AFL House in Feb 2013....DELAY EVERYTHING....and again and again....

What this demonstrates is how appallingly bad the legal and PR advice to Essendon was post the resignation of Evans. Fanned by the sociopathic flames of the Hirds, any rational defence of their (Essendon's) actions of 2012 rapidly went to the window and replaced by self justification and paranoia. This could have all been over in 2013, had Essendon accepted the deal negotiated by Evans, Demetriou, Liz Lukin (the AFL PR guru) and ASADA, but it would have meant Hird would have had to fall on his sword and admit guilt.

It is symptomatic of the dramatic lack of leadership in the AFL and Essendon at that time that this did not happen. It will end up costing Essendon, the AFL, and the game of Australian rules football tens of millions of dollars, perhaps more, over the next ten years before this is all over.

It is a lesson in allowing seriously flawed people untrammelled power, and what happens when charismatic narcissistic leaders have unchecked power, and people of integrity remain silent in sport, politics and life. Where have we heard that before?

[Whispering_Jack 28,094]

I agree that the consequences of Essendon taking the advice have been appalling and extremely damaging to the club, its players and the game but it can be argued that these were unintended by both those who gave and those who took the advice.

The initial aim was to defend the club, its players and officials from serious charges relating to an alleged programme involving the use of performance enhancing drugs. The club was sanctioned for its poor governance (an inevitability since nobody at the club knew the nature of the drugs ingested by the players and no records have ever been found) but three years later, the matter remains to be determined and, unless a settlement agreement has been/is about to be reached, it still has the capacity to drag on interminably even after the CAS proceedings are over.

Meanwhile, the number of Essendon listed players involved dwindles and if sanctions are eventually applied, the effect of the quasi judicial process itself is certain to be limited.

The real damage is the financial and emotional damage done to the institutions and the characters involved.

As Sir Walter Scott (no relation to Chris and Brad) once wrote:

"Oh what a tangled web we weave

When first we practice to deceive."

[biggestred 4,377]

Lets just hope CAS see this for what it was - the largest club sanctioned yet ungoverned illegal supplements regime in the history of team sport - and punish accordingly.

[Dees2014 2,377]

I agree that the consequences of Essendon taking the advice have been appalling and extremely damaging to the club, its players and the game but it can be argued that these were unintended by both those who gave and those who took the advice.

The initial aim was to defend the club, its players and officials from serious charges relating to an alleged programme involving the use of performance enhancing drugs. The club was sanctioned for its poor governance (an inevitability since nobody at the club knew the nature of the drugs ingested by the players and no records have ever been found) but three years later, the matter remains to be determined and, unless a settlement agreement has been/is about to be reached, it still has the capacity to drag on interminably even after the CAS proceedings are over.

Meanwhile, the number of Essendon listed players involved dwindles and if sanctions are eventually applied, the effect of the quasi judicial process itself is certain to be limited.

The real damage is the financial and emotional damage done to the institutions and the characters involved.

As Sir Walter Scott (no relation to Chris and Brad) once wrote:

"Oh what a tangled web we weave

When first we practice to deceive."

WJ, it could be argued that yes, but the fact remains that a solution was in the offing which satisfied all parties except for the Hirds and for want of leadership from Essendon and the AFL it wasn't taken up. Ungoverned and unaccountable charismatic leaders, particularly one as sociopathic as James Hird, are dangerous for any organisation (or country).

This could and should have been over years ago, but it isn't. And the blame rests at the feet of one man.

[Sir Why You Little 34,923]

Essendrug never wanted this investigation to finish early

Not with 34 players cited. The longer this was drawn out the happier they are

Players are now spread throughout different clubs and leagues

No longer an Essendrug liability. Their strategy was easy to spot from about Day 5

Edited November 3, 2015 by Sir Why You Little

[Willmoy1947 3,814]

Can CAS set or ask for or direct or place in the hands of Australia's highest governing sports authority a minimum level of punishment to Essendon the Club for the AFL to adhere to in a finding on guilt (presumption)

Is there a precedent for this perhaps from USA in NFL.

[beelzebub 22,324]

Cas can set a penalty according to the applicable code . If the delivering sporting body attempts to water it down the originator of the appeal can go back to CAS and appeal (again, but appealing the penalty not the verdict) .

The AFL knows this and needs to if not toe the line come very close to it or face the wrath.

Irrespective the bans start and players are affected. Then it becomes a matter of how long.

[Return to Glory 7,795]

Essendrug never wanted this investigation to finish early

Not with 34 players cited. The longer this was drawn out the happier they are

Players are now spread throughout different clubs and leagues

No longer an Essendrug liability. Their strategy was easy to spot from about Day 5

Easy to spot? Really SWYL? I just thought their strategy was deny, deny, deny. I think, as a by product the players left but I would find it incredible if this was a planned strategy.

[beelzebub 22,324]

The easy bit was realising they needed to stall...and the AFL were only to happy to allow ( well...certain folk within at least )

[biggestred 4,377]

If and when they get found guilty and cas recommend they are all banned for 2 years, wait for the public outcry on the afl to ditch wada and what a joke it all is

... except that the code is there to protect the player's health, but you know

[beelzebub 22,324]

If and when they get found guilty and cas recommend they are all banned for 2 years, wait for the public outcry on the afl to ditch wada and what a joke it all is

... except that the code is there to protect the player's health, but you know

i get that already from Essendon friends etc. Esp my Ess step son. Great lad.. VERY intelligent. .. VERY BLINKERED !!

[daisycutter 28,684]

If and when they get found guilty and cas recommend they are all banned for 2 years, wait for the public outcry on the afl to ditch wada and what a joke it all is

... except that the code is there to protect the player's health, but you know

it's not really there to protect their health. that's just a by-product or afterthought

it's there to stop cheating by using performance enhancing substances

[Sir Why You Little 34,923]

Easy to spot? Really SWYL? I just thought their strategy was deny, deny, deny. I think, as a by product the players left but I would find it incredible if this was a planned strategy.

If you watch the original presser..The 3 of them are guilty...They know it..Caught out

1-2 days later the club is on the counter attack...Worded up..The longer this saga rolls the more players we can offload and top up from elsewhere

I am not a lawyer but i picked up this strategy very quickly...Nobody wants to talk about it now

"Just get it over with"...

[biggestred 4,377]

it's not really there to protect their health. that's just a by-product or afterthought

it's there to stop cheating by using performance enhancing substances

Well yeah it is.

Its to stop rogue people importing unknown substances from some factory in china that hasnt been tested on humans yet and using it on athletes... who are responsible and have the right of veto of what goes into their body.

[bing181 8,226]

None of it would surprise i guess but in a nutshell the affair was all so much more blatant than Essendon, the AFL or even the media will care to admit. They have got off lightly.

Presumably WADA agree with you, which is why they appealed. But they haven't got off lightly or otherwise for the moment, hearing starts later this month.

[Willmoy1947 3,814]

Might have made all the difference if you had have combed your hair Munga....

[FireInTheBennelly 4,027]

I had a few beers 2 weeks ago with one of the attorneys who represented 24 of the players in the ASADA case. Very interesting conversation.

I only met him because I was chatting up this lovely thing in her early 20s and he wandered over to let me know she was his sister!

we had a great conversation about footy in general and as his knowledge of the bombers was quite strong the convo inevitably got on to the doping scandal.

I often read posts on here about what players etc say to strangers in a bar and i find it hard to believe they would disclose that kind of stuff but he was extremely candid that night. I plied him with a lot of [censored] though!

None of it would surprise i guess but in a nutshell the affair was all so much more blatant than Essendon, the AFL or even the media will care to admit. They have got off lightly.

Unfortunately i didn't pull his sister - she was an absolute doll.

I keep in touch with him semi regularly since but have not felt comfortable as of yet to enquire about Melksham. I will do though

Can't imagine why, with a head like that. The term 'head like a half sucked mango' comes to mind......

[FireInTheBennelly 4,027]

What hasn't been mentioned at all really is what will happen if 2 or more Essendon players are found guilty. Then it comes back on the club, and WADA can take further action (not that I know what that is exactly). I don't really care how long it takes to deal with the players, it's the next step that interests me and how much damage can be done to the Essendon Football club, the overarching guilty party.

[What 18,810]

12 days until the shite hits the fan.

[Fitz Fitzpatrick 886]

SO SO SO GLAD WE DIDNT HIRE DANK

[Dees2014 2,377]

Can CAS set or ask for or direct or place in the hands of Australia's highest governing sports authority a minimum level of punishment to Essendon the Club for the AFL to adhere to in a finding on guilt (presumption)

Is there a precedent for this perhaps from USA in NFL.

NRL have not signed up to WADA protocols, hence the continuing appalling behaviour of much of their playing Group. The AFL wanted to do this too until the federal government informed them that there would be no more subsidies, particularly on stadium and training facilities, from federal or state governmentS if they did not. They came into line.

If this had not happened, I suggest there would be Essendon style practices in almost every club, except no one would hear about them, as there are alleged to be in the NFL.

[FireInTheBennelly 4,027]

SO SO SO GLAD WE DIDNT HIRE DANK

Spot on. By the sounds of it we were pretty close to doing so.