13 minutes ago, Choke said:

A cynic might think this was the plan from the beginning.

Fortunately no-one here is a cynic and we find that Vlad's tipping off of Evans, a "joint" investigation, the attempted "deal" with Andruska, the attempted sacrificial offering of Hird, the letting off of support staff, etc, are all easily explained away in a rigorous drug investigation.

 

Only guessing, but your posited cynic might think that we would never had heard about any of this but for the involvement of an organisation that, quite unexpectedly, wasn't awestruck by the mighty AFL. Namely, the Australian Crime  Commission who got the ball rolling.

5 minutes ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

I think the concern about Gatlin is less about  the "lifetime benefit" and more about the lack of a "lifetime ban". To badly paraphrase, to get caught doping once may be regarded as misfortune but to be caught twice looks like carelessness. 

Our friend Mr Gatlin served his time for doing drugs, but when he came back "clean" he was running faster times than when he was on the gear.

Things that make you go hmmmm...........

10 minutes ago, Ted Fidge said:

Our friend Mr Gatlin served his time for doing drugs, but when he came back "clean" he was running faster times than when he was on the gear.

Things that make you go hmmmm...........

Different gear???....

2 minutes ago, Sir Why You Little said:

Different gear???....

Cripes!!!

You don't think he was still cheating, do you?

If true, this devastating revelation could throw the world of international athletes on its head.

1 minute ago, Ted Fidge said:

Cripes!!!

You don't think he was still cheating, do you?

If true, this devastating revelation could throw the world of international athletes on its head.

It's the cynic in me!!

1 minute ago, Sir Why You Little said:

It's the cynic in me!!

So can we go back to pretending nothing happened?

Edited September 12, 20168 yr by Ted Fidge

5 minutes ago, Ted Fidge said:

So can we go back to pretending nothing happened?

Why not?

The AFL has.

Won't be long before we will have three big teams up in Sydney. Send the Bummers up there.

4 minutes ago, Choke said:

Why not?

The AFL has.

Comment of the day Choke.

The worst part is the fans that have been listening and still think they did nothing wrong and have been banned wrongly. 

And they wont listen.

Flogs

27 minutes ago, Ted Fidge said:

So can we go back to pretending nothing happened?

Carry on...Gil and the Commission all got paid (with Bonuses...)

The suspensions are not quite over yet but the players involved can now appear at and train with their clubs.

In that respect, I suppose we can officially welcome Jake Melksham to the fold. 

I think the club was poorly advised when it did the trade deal with Essendon to get him but it did so with eyes wide open.

Despite this, we received no compensation for the loss of a year from a player for who we gave up a second round draft pick, nor were we properly entitled to any compensation.

What does make it a little difficult to take is how Essendon has been magnificently compensated in terms of its capacity to recruit/draft players in the wake of the saga. 

The Bombers who were at the heart of the doping scandal were allowed to take 12 additional players for 2016 whereas the innocents had no rights to replacing suspended players and no recognition was given to the fact that the better part of a dozen players will be coming back onto their list in 2017. They get first place in the national, pre season and rookie drafts ahead of another club who they finished ahead of by a minuscule amount of percentage points.

That's about the final nail in the coffin for AFL integrity in my book.

2 minutes ago, Whispering_Jack said:

....

That's about the final nail in the coffin for AFL integrity in my book.

In the words of that great orator Tony haaayyy Abbott "the AFL's integrity is dead buried AND cremated"

It appears that WADA has been hacked by Russian cyber experts.Would have thought their data would have been better protected.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/sep/13/wada-russian-cyber-attack-espionage-group

And a big month coming up for CAS:

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/sep/13/maria-sharapova-doping-fate-cas-october

Edited September 14, 20168 yr by Diamond_Jim

9 hours ago, Whispering_Jack said:

The suspensions are not quite over yet but the players involved can now appear at and train with their clubs.

In that respect, I suppose we can officially welcome Jake Melksham to the fold. 

I think the club was poorly advised when it did the trade deal with Essendon to get him but it did so with eyes wide open.

Despite this, we received no compensation for the loss of a year from a player for who we gave up a second round draft pick, nor were we properly entitled to any compensation.

What does make it a little difficult to take is how Essendon has been magnificently compensated in terms of its capacity to recruit/draft players in the wake of the saga. 

The Bombers who were at the heart of the doping scandal were allowed to take 12 additional players for 2016 whereas the innocents had no rights to replacing suspended players and no recognition was given to the fact that the better part of a dozen players will be coming back onto their list in 2017. They get first place in the national, pre season and rookie drafts ahead of another club who they finished ahead of by a minuscule amount of percentage points.

That's about the final nail in the coffin for AFL integrity in my book.

What we will never know, and rightly, is what really transpired between Melksham and Goodwin leading up to his ultimate decision. I am a great believer in destiny,  and i would love to believe that this be the beginning of a good one for us all. No matter how i look at this, i keep coming back to the word courageous, but we shall see.

6 hours ago, Diamond_Jim said:

It appears that WADA has been hacked by Russian cyber experts.Would have thought their data would have been better protected.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/sep/13/wada-russian-cyber-attack-espionage-group

And a big month coming up for CAS:

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/sep/13/maria-sharapova-doping-fate-cas-october

Yep, Australia can breath a sigh of relief that none of its main male tennis players don't have the need to be on Dope......

10 hours ago, Diamond_Jim said:

It appears that WADA has been hacked by Russian cyber experts.Would have thought their data would have been better protected.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/sep/13/wada-russian-cyber-attack-espionage-group

And a big month coming up for CAS:

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/sep/13/maria-sharapova-doping-fate-cas-october

More cheating from the Bombers - using their 'top up' ruckman to discredit WADA

13 hours ago, Whispering_Jack said:

Despite this, we received no compensation for the loss of a year from a player for who we gave up a second round draft pick ...

Not entirely true, we were given the right to upgrade a rookie.

(Yes, I know ...)

http://m.bbc.com/sport/olympics/37355024?ns_mchannel=social&ns_campaign=bbc_sport&ns_source=facebook&ns_linkname=sport

 

Medals from 2008!!

Edited September 14, 20168 yr by biggestred

On 9/14/2016 at 7:49 AM, Whispering_Jack said:

Despite this, we received no compensation for the loss of a year from a player for who we gave up a second round draft pick, nor were we properly entitled to any compensation.

What does make it a little difficult to take is how Essendon has been magnificently compensated in terms of its capacity to recruit/draft players in the wake of the saga. 

The Bombers who were at the heart of the doping scandal were allowed to take 12 additional players for 2016 whereas the innocents had no rights to replacing suspended players and no recognition was given to the fact that the better part of a dozen players will be coming back onto their list in 2017. They get first place in the national, pre season and rookie drafts ahead of another club who they finished ahead of by a minuscule amount of percentage points.

That's about the final nail in the coffin for AFL integrity in my book.

I was told Dons paid him this year not us. So to some extent at least the cost was mitigated. I believe we get to utilise his salary for this year in the salary cap next season. For what it's worth. 

I know I shouldn't be but I remain stunned by the deafening silence from the AFL press about them getting pick 1. It is a glaring example of how compromised the AFL Press are and how beholden to the AFL they are. There should have been a deafening outcry over this but there's nothing. 

Totally agree with your comment re nail in the coffin for AFL integrity.

Now with Melksham and possibly Hibberd coming on-board my demon-supporting soul feels tainted by the whole Essendrug saga. Dee-jected.

23 minutes ago, TRIGON said:

Now with Melksham and possibly Hibberd coming on-board my demon-supporting soul feels tainted by the whole Essendrug saga. Dee-jected.

Yes understandable. It is a little hypocritical to condemn club and players and at the same time welcome two of the players as if they had only ingested mothers milk. 

18 minutes ago, hemingway said:

Yes understandable. It is a little hypocritical to condemn club and players and at the same time welcome two of the players as if they had only ingested mothers milk. 

agreed. But I comfort myself by saying they did the crime and have done the time so should have another chance like any wrongdoer.  My thoughts are not so forgiving for those that instigated the  'experiment'.

18 minutes ago, hemingway said:

Yes understandable. It is a little hypocritical to condemn club and players and at the same time welcome two of the players as if they had only ingested mothers milk. 

Parochial reasonability and forgiveness allow me to welcome these two to the fold plus sticking it up the media and the AFL with an inkling of ACC smell.

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/afl-essendon-begin-settling-compensation-claims-with-banned-players-20160914-grghyv.html