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New Essendon motto: Whoever it takes !

For the record, that is not what I am saying. If Jack's foot holds up in full training then he'll play at Casey, and if it holds up there and his form warrants it then he'll play for MFC. If he breaks down at any of those stages, I won't be thinking about "52 years". I am 100% behind him

This club is a bloody disgrace. Has there ever been a bigger example of cheats trying everything to get away with it? Talk about bringing the game into disrepute. As for the AFL They are a disgrace as well - from the second they tipped off essendon they havent had the game as a whole as their best interest. Yuk. If it wasnt for the dees id be out

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/essendon-34-banned-bombers-swiss-appeal-may-taint-afl-season-20160126-gme99r.html Well, a fine old mess this will be! The real reason behind an injunction and an appeal is now clear! Peter Jess: "The full hearing, if papers are lodged, could be two or three years away. It's not a bad idea, especially for the older blokes who may only have a couple of years left and could return to their clubs soon." Yep, lets appeal! By the time it is heard there will hardly be any players left playing for AFL clubs. But Jess ignores all the other players with football related careers who will lose their livelihood if the appeal fail. An issue: What if EFC win a premiership and in a few years the appeal fails? Jess: no problem, only the players lose the medal, EFC are still premiers. I thought he was a player manager! Don't know much about Jess but he isn't sounding to smart of late. From the article: The AFL Players Association is also considering an appeal, even through the NSW Supreme Court – as the CAS hearing was held in NSW – on behalf of the other 32 players. The article says: Both appeals would likely be funded fully or in part by the players' association. This really means the AFL as the AFLPA is funded by the AFL!! I thought EFC were funding players' legal action! Yes, it is very easy to appeal when using other people's money!! The players have a right to appeal but not to have it funded by the AFL. It will be a disgrace if the AFL uses money intended for the development of the game or other clubs for any of the 34 players. The AFL's silence atmo is deafening!

Clearly, whether you agree or not, the FD wanted to keep both Michie and Hunt on the list but also wanted to have four spots for selections in the National Draft. As both Michie and Hunt were out of contract and were the only ones able to vacate a spot to allow for 4 ND picks then one had to be delisted and rookied. The FD would have then had to determine the best way to achieve this goal. When a club wants to move a player to the rookie list they can't simply transfer him, he must be delisted and then taken as a rookie. The danger of course is the delisted player can either elect to go to another club as a delisted free agent or be picked up by another club in the ND, PSD or rookie draft. So the transfer involves some "risk". Clearly the FD decided that there was less risk involved in moving Michie rather than Hunt. That's why the club did it the way they did, it was all about giving them the best chance of achieving their objective and may not have anything to do with how they rated the players. This is contrary to your position of rating the players and then trying to get the objective - a greater risk. I don't agree with your position of favouring Michie over Hunt anyway, it's a simplistic position and not well thought through.. Michie has had five years in an AFL environment and appears to be no more than a meat and potatoes midfielder (sorry Samuel). He sits comfortably with players like Newton, M Jones and co as players that will be AFL depth at best. N Jones, Vince, Viney, AVB, Tyson and Brayshaw are clearly ahead of him. Petracca, ABN, Stretch, Melksham, Bugg, Salem, Kennedy, Harmes, Oliver, Trengove all have midfield aspirations which leave Newton, Michie and Jones all well down the pecking order for spots. Hunt has shown nothing really except he does have some AFL characteristics. He is blindingly quick, has clean hands and can break lines. If he succeeds he can add something to our team that we don't have. Like you I have low expectations but I'd much rather have him on the list than a mid that in five years on an AFL list sits outside the top 10 in terms of midfield hierarchy on exposed form.

given this guy is an ex afl employed lawyer it should give you an insight into the type of logic that prevails within afl house when they are trying to "manage" a "situation"

ignoring that your post is hypothetical, you would first need to find the missing records of the injection regime and secondly you are ignoring the fact that intention to take banned substances is in itself an indictable offence and signing the "waiver" demonstrates intent.

it's purely up to each club, and of course the player involved this started with essendon who said they would offer an extra year on the contract to their players. so far i don't know if any or how many players have taken up the offer. in essendon's case it is more about trying to compensate players and encourage them not to leave the club as dfas or trades (which is likely at least for some) can't see mfc offering melksham an extra year at this stage. would be smarter and prudent to see what condition he comes back in sept and how he performs in 2017 season. but you never know

I like the fact Oliver gets compared to McKenzie because he has red hair. #Gingerist.

Yeah, poor bugger. The only thing he did wrong was being injected with a banned, performance enhancing drug, and as anyone in the afl will tell you, its not really worth suspending anyone over. Maybe he should be awarded this years also.

The process with regard to appeals against decisions handed down by CAS is that an application must be made to the Swiss Federal Court. The Court will in the first instance hear whether the party lodging the appeal has valid grounds based on jurisdiction. The judgement is specifically drawn in my view to close off that possibility so whoever frames the case for an appeal will have to display a fair amount of ingenuity. I think the odds are heavily against an appeal getting past this first base. Early in this saga, I did some reading on the subject of the applicable law in these cases and it was my understanding that by way of contract, the parties i.e WADA, the AFL, the clubs and the players accepted that the jurisdiction for such cases was based on Swiss civil law and that they had therefore specifically contracted out of the sovereign law of this country. I understand this means that a local court would not mix in at this stage of proceedings and would require the process in the Swiss Federal Court to run its course. In the event therefore, that grounds of appeal can be established before the SFC (and that could take several months), a date for the hearing of the actual appeal would need to be set and arguments heard. I think the procedure would be costly, time consuming and have little likelihood of success. I don't know whether the players would have the appetite to mount a challenge and I'd be suggesting that they take their medicine.

i'm sure they did consider all possibilities......and came to the conclusion that a couple of weeks was "worst case" because...............that is what was stated

interesting to me how much talk there is about appealling. what about " its gone on for so long....just get it over with....the pressure involved in the wait is worse than any sentence" what all that really meant was "hurry up and find us innocent" because now they were found guilty everyone seems to want the process to continue. As its Australia day I have to add this. Ive always felt it was the Australian way to be "clean athletes" that we cared about that side of things. ...and Ive always judged harshly the shadowy worlds of the eastern europeans etc . If an Aussie won a medal it would give me extra pleasure to know it was "clean". The way Fitzpatrick in particular, but all the AFL bigwigs as well as MOST of the media has responded to all of this has been very disillusioning. Now theres talk about leaving the WADA code?! wtf is going on. Seems like what we really care about is image and brand protection...and drugs are ok. Is this the new Australia? Another gripe on the same lines . Why does everyone still talk about the bombers "suppliment program" it was a performance enhancing drug program. Wouldnt it have been great in the tanking saga if it had been referred to as our troubled "list management strategy"

dunno why people bother going to medical school. couple of years lurking on demonland would be quicker and cheaper

i haven't had a decent dintbplatbthid in years, jack

He's a specialist in making overblown ambit claims and putting the legal squeeze on in order to get settlements (and quite coincidentally, $$$$). He has no more specialist knowledge of CAS and Swiss law than any eagle on this forum. Or any random collection of eagles in Melbourne. He's let his emotions get the better of him here. The players chose to go in as a group throughout the whole ASADA/WADA/CAS process. If one player felt he was in a different category then he had the option to plough his own road. It is too late for that player to rethink his options. He can't eat his cake and expect to still have it. If the claim is true, it is not the process that has failed. It is the legal representation of the player. If it was so clear that player X was not injected withTB-4, then his lawyer has done a lousy job of presenting the case.

I would have thought re Jobe a self evident truth would come into play. Someone deserving of the medal would understand. That Jobe doesn't get it, that he hasn't already handed it back only goes to show ( to this observer ) that he isn't worthy. #giveitbackjobe

I'm working with a young student who is doing a psychology degree at uni, pointed her to this site for a bit of practical study

Maybe all that this says is that psychological profiling is an even less exact science / art /craft than is recruiting?

Charges were brought only against players who both: signed a consent form to receive Thymosin; and admitted receiving injections from Mr Dank. There were 34 players that met those conditions. So a player now says he stopped injections before TB4 was introduced. So one of 2 things happened: - He didn't say it in his ASADA interview so that evidence didn't go before CAS. I would say that is his bad luck. Too late now. - CAS rejected that evidence (eg CAS found plenty of evidence of player cover up so they didn't give much credence to what they said, or CAS found his injection dates did match up with TB4 dates). He gave consent to receive Thymosin, he had injections. And if no-one knew what was being injected how could the player be so sure he didn't get TB4. A very flimsy basis for an appeal, I reckon. The press will find lots of player anomalies in the coming weeks but I wouldn't put much cred on what they now say. They had their chance to tell their stories, the whole truth. That they didn't take that opportunity is unfortunate but that is how the law works, and should work.

it was reported a while back that the afl are considering this and if allowed, how much. also who should play suspended players at other clubs if payment allowed as is typical afl, nothing publicly stated since nor has tame media raised it lately

Mathew Stokes is next cab off the rank for the Bombers - and yes, he has history.

I was just asking has he started kicking a ball yet.

I havent as yet paid my membership for this year. Nothing to do with the club and everythung to do with the issues you point to here. I think i might send an email to the club explaining that i will not support any team within a code that condines PED use the way the AFL are. I wont be paying my memebership untill the AFL make there ongoing support of the code crystal clear and stop all this embarrasing noise. I know the club are the ones to suffer but i have no other choice. Maybe an email to the club, or many saying the same thing to all clubs will be what it takes to get them to take it seriously. If the do split from WADA then i walk from the sport as a whole, my guess is that i wouldn't be the only one.

I thought the possibility of a twelve-month suspension figured in the decision to offer Melksham four years rather than three. Trying to read the minds of the notoriously closed-mouthed Melbourne FD.

The players knew they would be found guilty, they just thought the panel would give them a no fault reduction, all along the players have been looking for loopholes, if only the players asked Dr reid about tb-4 then all of this would not have happened, they tried to keep secrets and we all know when u keep secrets it looks bad, often the cover up is worse then the crime, when the 34 tried to keep it secret how can anyone believe them now?

An improved version of Mark Ricciuto? Nice to see someone with some realistic expectations on the young kid.

Now Fahey goes whack, whack, whack to the AFL! http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/afl-would-become-laughing-stock-of-world-sports-if-it-separated-from-wada-20160124-gmd9tb.html Fahey: "I would think they [the AFL] would become the laughing stock of sport around the world if they [separated themselves]..."Why are they different to 679 other associations who believe you shouldn't cheat in sport?"...Fahey warned the AFL against following the example of major US sports..."They are privately owned, and as a result of being privately owned, they make their own rules," he said. So many politicians supporting players or AFL withdrawl or saying nothing has been nauseating. Its about time someone with some authority spoke up. Well done, Mr Fahey.

Just on Oliver the couple of games o saw the bushies play obviously he dominated. He definitely was alot pudgy compared to what he is now and even back then he had a good burst of speed when he could win a stoppage and just burst out of the contest. For a kid that was carrying weight i was quite surprised and impressed he actually had decent pace. Now that he is trimmed right down and toned up i expect his pace to really go up a notch now to the point where who knows maybe it might be Dangerfield like.. A 187cm 86kg Beast of a midfielder bursting out of packs is something i have seriously craved for a long time.

According to the AFL Prospectus Champion data players at TAC who do not win enough of there own ball tend not to make it at AFL despite their Junior Comp disposal numbers. They said Toumpas and Morton were relatively low 'win own ball' juniors despite high numbers. Our recruiters at the time were obviously not aware of this. Since those days its no coincidence that its largely been ball winners. Oliver is a ball winning beast. Evidently Parish can win his own ball as well. By reports Oliver has more pace than Parish and also more size.

sooo... Clayton anyone?

The reports have been exciting to read of late but one thats really starting to makes my ears [censored] is Big Gawny attacking the pre season with an aggressive mindset and work ethic. Could see this bloke really tear the competition apart with his height and marking ability and shoot himself into All Australian within the next couple of year. Also if you want further proof go and watch the latest inside the camp video and they have recorded Paul Roos wrapping up a training session and he goes on by saying that he will make a big statement and he mentions his never one to make big statements, but throughout his journey he has never seen a ruckman train as hard as what Max did. He then awards Gawny with the 'Paul Roos man of the week' by handing him $100. Just a bit of loose change in old Roosy's wallet lol.. In all seriousness though that is a massive endorsement from Roosy to Gawn. But also shows the hard work and dedication he has put in to get to where he is at the moment. Full credit to big Gawn too. Looking forward to a ripping season ahead for Maximus!

Emma Quayle is one of the more knowledgeable writers on the AFL Draft. Recently, her second book was published - The Draftees, a sequel to her first which covered the 2007 AFL Draft, The Draft. This time she covers the year-long journey of five potential 2014 draftees (Isaac Heeney, Jake Lever, Tom Lamb, Clem Smith and Peter Wright) and looks at the issues and the highs and lows involved in being a potential AFL draftee, including the pressures, the disruption to normal family life and education, injuries and a raft of other matters that arise during the course of the season. Interspersed with the diaries of the players are insights about the drafting process from the recruiting team at St. Kilda who made themselves available to Quayle at various times during the year. You get to understand their thinking and the pressure upon them to make the right calls on players. Obviously, from an MFC supporter perspective, the book would have been of even greater interest, had one of Quayle's subjects ultimately been a Demon draft pick, but there have been some interesting snippets so far (I'm halfway through the book). Some examples:- Saints recruiting manager (and former Demon Tony Elshaug) and another recruiter flew to Adelaide in May to watch an South Australian Under 18 trial game and called Glenelg pair Alex Neal-Bullen and Billy Stretch the "two stand out players". Discussion about Angus Brayshaw in the early stages of the Under 18 championships: "Brayshaw was next. 'He was very good. He had plenty of the footy,' said Barnard. 'I don't know if it was planned, but he got more on the outside than the inside, which I wasn't expecting. He's been really combative in the games I've seen previously. He gets caught a few times but his work rate is through the roof.' 'His leadership is very good,' said Elshaug. 'He was always talking to the others. He can't do much more. I don't think he could possibly be playing much better than he is right now. He was best on ground.'" Being a NSW/ACT representative, Isaac Heeney can only play in the second division of the Under 18 championships and expresses his frustration that the new championship format means that he couldn't do the thing that he most wanted: "take on Angus Brayshaw, Christian Petracca and the other really good midfielders ..." The importance of buildings up a good fitness base when coming back from injury was discussed in the case of Peter Wright, an early draft favourite on his recovery and on Jake Lever who spent the entire season sidelined after a knee reconstruction. Late in the season, one of the Saints' recruiters sat in freezing-cold weather at Ballarat watching Oscar McDonald play well at CHB in a TAC Cup game. "He works really, really hard and he's able to accumulate possessions because of that. He's a smart player, he reads the play well and he's competitive. There's just a slight lack of athleticism that worries me at the moment". I'm just getting to the part where the Saints recruiters discuss the top six draft prospects which included Paddy McCartin, Brayshaw and Christian Petracca - I'll cover that discussion in my next report.

I wouldn't go that far. The club saw an opportunity to land an extra first rounder and Trengove was the player the Tigers wanted... of the players who were available that is. Clearly the club were happy to move him on but it's a bit simplistic to simply suggest the coaches don't rate him. He wouldn't have gotten another contract and another year to get healthy otherwise.

Players suspended by WADA are supposed to be unpaid, though I'm sure clubs will find a way to pay them.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/subscribe/news/1/index.html?sourceCode=HSWEB_MRE170_a_TWT&mode=premium&dest=http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/jeffrey-browne-says-jobe-watson-should-be-allowed-to-keep-his-2012-brownlow-medal/news-story/aabec6e2b2b172d3683b11a60d6217ea&memtype=anonymous How about the other 600 clean athletes??

just have a look at the book cover, and tell me what direction he is coming from

A player who is "blindingly quick, has clean hands and can break lines", like Cyril Rioli, can have 12 possessions and kick 6 goals. (Please don't say "Hunt's not Rioli", that's obvious.)

The judgement itself is the most conclusive reading.

You a fiction or non fiction type ?

And just to show how fragile a player's career can be once they contract a foot injury, look at the case of 19 year old West Coast Eagles player Damien Cavka who announced his retirement yesterday on medical advice after battling foot problems for a year since he was drafted.

Sure.......but the TV deal is really important. Suspension of an entire club would hit revenue deeply, especially an "important club" Interesting that Peter Gordon, with all his legalese, hasn't mentioned this huge conflict of interest issue.

It's not a fact, and even putting it in capitals won't make it a fact. It's an assumption on your part. None of us know what discussion took place around taking Melksham.

I'll preface this comment by saying that I want ALL players on our list to make it. While that never happens I still want to see our players succeed. However, we are living in the era of training reports. They are great for the off season and provide us with something footy related when there are no games on. But they also skew our view of the players and we are more likely to get excited about them and go right over the top based on them hitting a few targets under no pressure or running a good 3km time trial. That's all great, but it also pumps them up too much. Then we get all disappointed when they don't reach their potential and we are quicker to bag them as our expectations have hit unrealistic levels, levels they were never capable of achieving. I'd love Jayden Hunt to make it but I have no expectations, high or low. I'm glad he is improving but actual football will really tell us how he's going.

This story is more about a young player who has battled injury since being drafted, a player who the footy dept thinks is worth persevering with Now fully fit, let's wait and see

I coached my nephews U16 side last year with a parent from the Brighton Grammar side where Jayden and Christian Salem played. He said that Christian was an absolute blinder and a great pickup. Also that Jayden could be anything and maybe even better than Christian, but for the injuries which never allowed him to get on the field, and also be picked for the Sandy Dragons squad. If his body responds, then we could have another talent from that draft. If it doesn't then it will be yet another tale of "what could have been...."

I really fear for people like yourself and munga and old dee. When we starting winning more than we lose, what will you do? The negativity from you guys is unrelenting. Maybe our ascent will coincide with North Melbourne's decline and you can follow them in an attempt to get your fill of doom and gloom. It's almost as if you're not happy unless you're unhappy. Roos was hired to do more than simply coach a team. He along with Jackson, Bartlett, Taylor and Mahoney have significantly altered the culture of the MFC. We are a professionally run club with a healthy focus placed on training habits, leadership, competitiveness and a team-first culture. Roos has made these areas his focus. If you can't see where we're going from here, I feel sorry for you. Our CEO is one of the best in the business. Financially we're far more sound with increased footy dept spending. Our coach is a proven architect and shaper of footy club culture. The positivity coming from the player group about Goodwin is incredible. Taylor keeps picking aggressive, skilled, athletic footballers at both ends of the draft. We have elite talent that is on brink of being realized. Now is the time, to buckle up and enjoy the ride. The love for Roos isn't unconditional, but the criticisms are focused on his pay packet, match day performance and contributions to our training sessions. I don't care how much he gets paid if the aforementioned culture is on the improve and we continue to post profits. I could easily find fault with his game day decision making but in the long term I'm more interested in the development of culture and the unearthing of quality footballers. And finally, the direction of most sports with increasing staff sizes is for the head honcho to oversee more and more and provide less hands on attention. Roos is clearly in big picture mode and Goodwin is running the gameplan side of things. And gameplans are honed during training. It makes sense that he is running the show on the training paddock. It seems to me at least that the transition with McCartney overseeing everything is working beautifully. As supporters we're not used to transitions. As Melbourne supporters we're not accustomed to being a part of cutting edge footy dept thinking. This is what it looks like.

The issue I have with this rule about top up players is that the AFL has gone out and given the so far exclusive right to Essendon to search out these players. This gives the perpetrator of the offence, a head start over the other clubs who have lost players but were not offenders which puts them at a disadvantage. Moreover, the decision to not take into consideration the fact that Essendon will potentially have 12 players coming back in 2017 as a factor in their draft position is also unfair given that it will likely put the perpetrators at a further advantage over rival clubs. It really is outrageous.

Interesting that there wasn't a peep out of all these folks from Gordon to Loyd to Balme when Saad gets out for 2 years for taking the wrong pill once on match day. Everyone agreed he broke the rules and got what he deserved. I cant imagine what's in this for Balme . Unless perhaps Dank knows a hell of a lot more about a few people and a few clubs than he wants revealed. Doesn't anyone else think its amazing how little pressure has been put on Dank to talk? and that no one can subpoena him? He knows everything supposedly but still WADA and the AFL are to blame. Dank is being protected by the press and AFL no doubt about it. No one even mentioning suing him. The further this goes on, and the more people come out publically against WADA, the more I small rotten fish somewhere else in the house outside of bomberland.