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You're a harder man than me. I've followed this case reasonably closely and am satisfied that the players used TB-4 and therefore committed an ADRV and I think that the CAS penalty is appropriate because the players share fault. I won't labour the reasons here unless anyone really needs them. But on the other hand - Melksham was 20yo starting his 3rd year in the system. Hird and Dank told him it was all OK - even Dank (mistakenly) thought TB-4 wasn't banned. http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/danks-stunning-admission-20140613-zs7ea.html Watson, Fletcher, Stanton, Hille etc were all going ahead with it. Life ban - pretty harsh! I'm prepared to welcome him to our club and hope he can re-build his career, but like you said I'd like to hear more contrition and less "we're innocent".

No unfortunately! They are trying to scare the beejesus out of anyone who even thinks of taking EFC/AFL to court. Disgraceful that a multi-billion $ AFL is trying to get a few pennies from a kid who is simply exercising his rights. A kid that was abused in their care. Its ok for EFC, Hird etc to exercise their legal rights but oh no, not a kid who is probably scared stiff of what they put in him. Meanwhile they are concocting a plan to give millions to fund the suspended players. Meanwhile AFLPA wants the player legal suits against the very same EFC/AFL settled out of court. Which players, Mr Marsh? Is Hal Hunter not one of them? Hunter is not even asking for money or damages he just wants his medical records! Today is truly a black day in sport. All at the AFL/EFC/AFLPA should hang their heads in shame.

Sadly for me the one overwhelming truth in this whole dirty sordid saga is the realisation that corruption and self interest is rampant in our sport, and at a level I could never have imagined. Sure I always knew about the biased draw, salary cap rorting and the dodgy tribunal results. Sure I knew about the favouritism toward the big clubs over the little clubs and the look the other way mentality of the commission when it deemed it necessary. But that seemed such small fry compared to what we face today. Integrity and morality have taken a back seat as the AFL has embraced a Cowboy Corporate culture where the ends justify the means. It doesn't need to be that way of course. Sadly I can't see this changing any time soon. The truly sad part is the very body charged with the games governance is in itself utterly corrupt. Maybe I'm being a bit melodramatic but when I saw that both the AFL and EFC were chasing court costs against Hal Hunter I couldn't help but feel that the last traces of any integrity and morality that either of these organisations once had, has was well and truly disappeared, much like the mythical EFC spread sheets that exonerate everybody.

Amazing. A bloke is basically requesting his own medical records and is being hounded by the holders of those records. If he was a big name player I am sure there would be mass hysteria about this. Makes be bloody angry. I can not stand that club now, and the ignorant buffoons at the AFL. Close to walking form the game if this crap keeps up without anyone being called to account.

Essendon and AFL pursue court costs against ex-player after he took legal action over injection program. Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/?reload=true#ixzz3xHeDlo14 Are all these people insane? They injected him with unknown drugs and they want costs from him? I am really angry about this.

It appears that the fact which caused the CAS to invoke the 12 month ban and refuse the deduction for compliance/co-operation, was that the players, all of them, wilfully, refused to disclose, that they had been injected with substances, to ASADA investigators on numerous occasions, when they had a statutory obligation to do so. There was absolutely no way of avoiding this finding, on their own evidence. This fact, has also turned many staunch followers of the players "total Innocence" line, to alter their views on the players behaviour and involvement in the program.

The EFC have received NO penalty for having 34 players guilty of taking PED's. They have received no penalty for organising & running a program that led to 34 players being found guilty of using PED's. Book keeping penalties 2 years ago do not cover this atrocity. They have received help to bolster their side and will be allowed a larger salary cap and will likely receive the 1st pick in the draft. The penalised players will be paid for not playing! Where is the penaty for the club that experimented with the health of these young men? Where is the penalty for the club that cheated?

Would love a full investigation of his playing career. Oh actually nevermind, he was just getting dietary advice from convicted drug importer Shane Charters. Carry on....

Great....A Changing of the Guard is beginning i hope. This illustrates to me just how bad Vlad was as the AFL Supremo. Gill who i thought spoke very well on 360, but as was pointed out and i had to agree he was too easy on the 34 players. This "Club" Mentality has to go...You cannot just accept blindly what the club says. Gill had a perfect opportunity last Monday to start a new page...but didn't and if the AFL want to extract $$$ from Hal Hunter for merely wanting to know exactly what was injected into his body..."That made his ass feel like lead" for a period of time...Then i personally find it hard to financially support this sport. We the Supporters need to demand a better Competition than what we have....It officially Stinks.

Where are the AFLPA in this side plot?

No, you said there was no evidence, there was evidence, It was just not accepted, when the woman refused to sign a statement for the police. Wonder why that happened? By the way, the woman works for channel 7, do you know which sport they are involved with. Dusty has some interesting family and friends too.

Macca wasn't even there in 2012!! He was coach of the Bulldogs. Hird seems so obsessed by his own imaginings he has lost sight of even the most basic facts!

It's funny how posters here lament the bias of pro-Essendon media personalities who blindly support their club, yet we chastise Melbourne personalities refusing to do the same. Lyon should be applauded for calling a spade a spade and not blindly supporting his former club, rather displaying objectivity as a commentator even if it's an inconvenient truth about past mistakes of the MFC. The point Lyon was making about our laughable "guilty for not tanking" finding was just how corrupt the AFL is; a corporation who now put their business interests before justice, and he was 100% correct.

If ever you needed proof the AFL and Essendon Footy Club are scum-suckers surely this is it. One party 'didn't keep records' for an experiment they were injecting this guy with (yeah, right, cos no one keeps records of their research), the other tried to hush it up, buy it off and make it disappear. These bodies have shat all over the game and the sport they've been entrusted with and both need to be vaporised.

Jeebers now we start to get really nasty, as many of us who followed proceedings knew would happen. Didn't expect this shot though, particularly from the AFL....Low Blow Players are just meat to this lot. Sooner the AFL Commission is totally cleaned out the better... Hal Hunter must beat this...

My guess is they know but don't want the fall out. Imagine if they do know and there are other banned substances on the records. We would start all over again with a new round of infractions as ASADA would have the evidence to prosecute. Hexeralin, CJC, the horse drug, and the mystery drug from mexico all come to mind.

They were getting injections before Reid got wind of it so they signed consent forms and hid it all again. BTW that is a [censored] disgrace from the afl and essendon, asking for costs after Hunter asked for docs relating to what he'd been injected with. What a bunch of [censored].

The above bolding is mine. Exactly which punishment has the club been given for conducting a program where 34 players have been found guilty of drug cheating?

Wow Mr. Leg and C and B I cannot believe how negative you pair are on 15th January. The list has improved quite a bit since last year and we are looking at a more attacking game plan in 2016. Essendrug have been decimated by suspension. They have lost 6- 8 of their top 12 players. and you pair are still mired in 2013 thinking. Come on guys brighten up after this game we will be 2 from 2 and have a healthy percentage.

I think your view is violently reasonable. I don't see the need to condemn so universally and in perpetuity. Life (and footy) is not that simple.

I want to see this.... Jim & Tracey to sing a duet at the end. They take turns singing verses. Towards the end of the song a third voice can be heard joining in. Who is it? Jobe walks on with a mic. It's him. Arm in arm, the three sing together. But more voices are heard too. Heppel comes on, Hurley ... all the 34. They finish the song together with a group hug and a rousing chorus. The song dies away into sudden silence. At one end of the stage is Ben McDevitt. Staring at Hird. No one moves. Great Jim says nothing but holds one hand aloft calling for calm. Then extends the hand to McDevitt. McDevitt rushes forward, seizes it, shakes it, and falls to his knees sobbing. Jim then calls forward a very special guest. Climbing out of the audience is Dank. Tears are streaming down his cheeks. Hird puts his hand on Dank's forehead and says "begone evil!". Dank falls backwards on to the ground shouting "I'm -- I'm cured! I'm ... good again!" Then proceed a series of bows and ovations like at the end of a stage show. Tracey presents Jim with a huge bouquet. Everyone's clapping and crying. All looking up at the peaceful benign face of Jim. The haters have lost.

I think Garry made a good point, Essendon is probably not the only one team that had players that took prohibited drugs just like Melbourne was not the only team that tanked. He is demonstrating the manufactured outcomes the AFL creates to sweep things under the carpet.

Well said. The treatment of Hal Hunter is unethical. The AFL needs to redress this, if it wants the supporters to love the game again. This sort of corporate behaviour is what leads to break away leagues.

Envious of those who got to see him at his peak, although it's debateable exactly when that was for such a musical chameleon. Having watched hours of interviews with him before and since his passing, you have to marvel at how he treated everyone with the same level of respect and warmth. I was unaware of the depth of his love and fascination for Australia, outside of his decision to film the "Let's Dance" film clip here. That was a happy discovery upon his death. A remarkably quiet and dignified exit from this world it must be said. A class act to the end.

^yuck I mean good luck to him in getting another year out of his career, but yuck. i really hope Crossy doesn't fill in for them. For some reason that would bother me more than Russian.

Totally agree SWYL. Actually know someone with inside knowledge of this investigation and the only reason it didn't go further was the victim not wanting it to. Her refusing to provide a signed statement stopped this in it's tracks.

Yes

When the victim did not give a signed statement to the police this was going to go no further.

This club organised a program that led to 34 players being found guilty of cheating and the players have been given a modified 2 year ban. Since the guilt of the players has been proven (In a club organised program) the club has received no penalties but has received concessions, extra players and increased salary cap. I ask, can anyone see how the club has directly been punished in respect of the recently proven cheating program?

What did you do with Old Dee? We want the old bugger back.

$2 million fine for poor governance Team kicked out of the 2013 finals Loss of 2013 draft picks Loss of 2014 draft picks Hird suspended for 12 months and later sacked Corcoran suspended for 6 months Dank found guilty by ASADA and unable to work in sport forever Thompson fined $30,000 Watson most likely to lose his Brownlow medal Fine of up to $600,000 by Workcover for unsafe work practices 34 players suspended for two years (reduced by backdating) Reputations ruined and the club probably uncompetitive for 3-4 years Honestly ... how much more punishment do you want?

Perhaps in exile Hird can take a role in North Korea as Integrity & Information Minister, they could rename the Kim Dynasty to the Jim Dynasty and he could carry on his good work there. Jim Jong Hird

James Hird 28th Aug 2013 "There were things that went on that shouldn't have happened last year. As senior coach I have to take some responsibility for what happened and not doing more to stop it." Hird the hypocrite.

I don't see why you won't let those that administer those ethics do their jobs as the CAS has? It has taken an effing age but the players have reached their point of judgement and justice and they will pay their penance. I think it is naïve to think you can apply such universal and holistic punishments. Jake Melksham is hardly Lance Armstrong. And Jake will serve his punishment and the effects of that judgment and punishment will reverberate into the future and affect the rest of his life. I see no point to stick the knife in further.

If you google funny essendon photos you get a whole heap comong up. Some of them are very funny. These are my favourite.

The AFL should strip him of his Hall of Fame status. Maybe give him a new honour: Hall of Infamy!!

Why raise tanking again Red? Every time you complain the wound just gets opened. I think we tanked, you don't. But by raising it you just remind me we did. We all know what happened. Help the club and move on.

We haven't played Essendon twice in 10 years. In the last 10 years, 9 of these games have been Essendon home games (2010 was a Melbourne home game). We play home games against interstate sides (the ones where you make no money), Collingwood (the one game where we make money) and two or three other Vic sides (usually Bulldogs and St Kilda).

Red I think it's because a football club get a bigger fine for not tanking then it does for have a program of injecting illegal substances to its players.

There were a couple of funny postings on bigfooty predicting what the interview would be like. From "Mead": From "FootyGeek": I reckon they're both spot on.

did you mean "moments of claret"?

So in effect, you think Melksham (and all the Essendon 34) should be banned for life and that CAS got it wrong? Because that's the natural extension of your argument. IMO, they have broken the rules and have received a significant punishment. I do think it's very unbecoming that the players involved and the AFLPA continue to maintain their "innocence" and agree with you that contrition would be far better - although I haven't heard Melksham's position on this yet. If the punishment is accepted and served in good faith by the players, then they should be free to re-commence their careers.

Speaking honestly, if there was a WATA body that challenged this AFL ruling, who here believes it would not have turned into "Guilty"?

Of course they did. We were just the unlucky ones that got busted.

I'll be watching it for the sheer entertainment value.

I'm not sure but White might be in the same mix as well.

Anyone who has listened to her program "the ticket" and commentary on this saga would realise she is hopelessly biased when it comes to this topic. This is simply a forum for the cannonisation of St James to join his place amongst the martyres.

I certainly won't be watching this drivel. Stage managed spin orchestrated by Hird et al. Thought Tracey Holmes was better than this. Not good use of the public broadcasters time and resources.

Not expecting much out of this interview, he wouldn't agree to it in the first place if he didn't get to prepare his answers to bs questions. This will be staged, even the follow up questions to what he just said will be prepared IMO, made to look like hard hitting journalism. Why do people want to hear from a delusional liar so bad anyway? We know by now he is full of garbage surely?!!

Who cares, you play the teams you have to play win more than you lose. We need to live in the ross lyon bubble, control what you can and ignore what you cant