M_9

Aside: Last Saturday's game is replayed at 1:30pm today on Fox.

I grimace on occasions at the grammar used by some DL'ers, but from Bomberblitz: "I know we laugh about their poultry numbers at games but this game is free entry for Melbourne home members in lieu of their selling of a home game to Darwin. Plus they are 'up and about'. They'll have decent numbers head along. " Question: Are we free range or caged?

Essendon supplements saga: Expert reveals possible health breaches "A leading expert on sports supplements has outlined the possible health ramifications the Essendon players involved in the club's 2012 supplements program could face. Bradley Clark, a master of human factors engineering and health science, has produced a risk assessment for players given drugs which form part of the thymosin group. He based the document on the peptide thymomodulin, which isn't banned but could pose major health issues depending on what was in the drug. ...."

Crowley explained the circumstances of him taking the headache tablet (or whatever) on the radio a few weeks back. It sounded entirely plausible. He said he was obligated to attend a party with his girlfriend following a match where he had collected a knock to the head, He had a throbbing headache and wanted to go home. The girlfriend suggested that he take a Panadol or similar offered by the host rather than leave. Other matters: whilst I booed Scully, I will not be booing this Saturday. The players that will be on the field are not the drug cheats - quite the opposite in some cases eg Zaharakis. I think the march will prove to be amusing as there's bound to be a 'Not Guilty' or similar placard on display. Crowd size: 55k, 15k Dees, 40k Dons (keep in mind that it's free entry for Dees members)

Daniher was 1.8 in the four matches leading up to our encounter last year. And to add insult to injury, Cloke kicks 7.0 against us the following week. So 12.0 in two weeks by the two most inaccurate forwards in the league.

If you don't have an Oz subscription, you may be able to access the article by entering "dank will need a cash injection" into Google. It worked for me.

This week [next Mon] Four Corners takes you inside one former Essendon player's battle to find out just what was in the supplements he was directed to take. http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/2016/03/17/4426753.htm

Not the sort of character I'd like at the club (albeit quite some time ago): http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/essendon-player-believed-to-be-michael-hurley-arrested-after-altercation-with-taxi-driver-on-hoddle-st/story-e6frf7jo-1225779431981

An interesting post by Muggs on BF relating some of Big Fries article in today's Oz about Danks' lawsuit: http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/steven-dank-case-cronulla-players-told-to-conceal-program.1126127/

From Caro: " ... Perhaps as relevance deprivation creeps up on him [Dank], his self-claimed legal expertise is all he can cling to now. He remained baffled by the decision and renewed his litigious and empty threats aimed at various media outlets and the AFL. Reportedly this columnist is among his hit list. Bring it on." Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/essendon-34-empty-threats-a-losing-game-for-stephen-dank-20160315-gnjmoq.html#ixzz42y63lEbi

Pete Ryan (afl.com.au) on SEN reckons 1 week - careless and high impact. Mathieson suspected broken jaw. Pedersen touch and go.

I too think Parish will be a good player. Interesting that he didn't play last week (from memory) and is not playing this week. He was just OK in their win over the Blues. Also I checked on the relative sizes - Parish v Oliver. The latter 13 kg heavier and 6cm taller (73 and 181 v 86 and 187). Doubt that Parish will grow 6cm and add 13 or more kg in 3 weeks.

I appreciate that it's not on-topic, but mention of St Bernards allows me to relate the story (from BF) of my mate big Bill Schwarzenberg, a premiership ruckman in the 60's: Bill used to dish out a few cheapies whenever he got the opportunity. In his last game, playing against Uni Blues, Bill belted some bloke. Thuggery of the highest order. Half a dozen Uni blokes wanted a piece of him and charged at him. Time for some quick thinking. As the umpire was nearby giving a free kick, Billy grabbed the umpire around the neck like a hostage yelling out "any of yous touch me, the umpy cops it".

Doubt it very much. Any of Hunt, Wagner or White should step up to the plate. (I'm aware the latter two are rookies).

Cam McCarthy won't be playing

From The Age article by John Pierik yesterday (Sat 13th): "...The players insist the 2010 AFL anti-doping code did not allow for a de novo hearing. A new code introduced last year did, but the players believe the case falls under the original code, as the ASADA investigation began in 2013. Sports lawyer Daniel Stuk said the players faced a tough fight to clear their names. "The problem with the argument is that CAS considered what would have happened if the AFL anti-doping policy had remained as originally drafted and WADA had sought a de novo hearing as part of its appeal. CAS ruled that it would have been able to hear the appeal as a de novo hearing regardless," he said...." If the players were successful (next to zero possibility) then the case would return to the CAS. BTW the full report of the AFL Tribunal (1400 or so pages) is somewhere on the 'net. A poster on BF listed a summary. It's impossible to believe how the tribunal was not comfortably satisfied. Essentially Dank's use of TB4 at Cronulla, and the molecular weight of the PED taken from Alavi's premises were the killers.

For those of you not familiar with Darren Kane's work, here are the bylines to articles he has written over the past year or so: No need for Essendon players caught up in doping inquiry to kowtow to ASADA Time for James Hird to inspire Bombers, James Hird in game of high-stakes poker with Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority AFL discovering too late WADA code doesn't neatly fit professional sport Why ASADA's case against Essendon players fell apart Alphabet soup: WADA won't fare any better than ASADA at CAS Why Essendon 34 could have a chance if they appealed CAS decision Essendon players taking a knife to a gun fight at Swiss Federal Tribunal I suspect that he'd be the type of punter that has 9 Win bets in a 9 horse race.

I think the first of Dank's court actions began some years ago following the NRL decision. He issued something like 10 defamation suits against 8 media organisations or individuals including Cronulla, the NRL, Dave Smith (former NRL CEO), Demetriou and so on. Some were withdrawn (the latter?). About the only ones that has been reported on is his recent win ($50,000) against News Ltd and an appeal against a Cronulla case that he'd lost: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/nrl/stephen-dank-loses-doping-defamation-appeal/news-story/38e8ae37fade9e4392f7862f3fb21e24 I guess that unless you trawl all the court lists across the country we won't know the details of all his writs.

That's not comedy. This is comedy: Bruce Francis's reply to Rita Panahi

From: Bruce FrancisSent: Thursday, 4 February 2016 3:47 PMTo: '[email protected]'Cc: alanjonesSubject: Drop everything and attend to this or resign...Dear Minister LeyI wrote to you on 26 February 2015 and 15 March 2015 and alleged, with supporting evidence, that ASADA ran a corrupted investigation into the Essendon Football Club.Unfortunately, you took no interest in the matter and hand-balled it.My worst fears came to fruition when WADA used the tainted evidence to bluff the CAS panel into finding the 34 Essendon players guilty.I find you partly responsible for this most unjust decision and believe that if you can’t persuade WADA to lobby the CAS to annul its decision within two weeks you should resign as the minister for sport.Time doesn’t permit me to spell out my list of grievances with you but two will suffice:1. You knew WADA was using tainted evidence2. You had a major conflict of interest. You are a member of the executive committee of WADA and you allowed ASADA, which refused to appeal the AFL Tribunal decision, to give your organisation WADA up to $130,000 of Australian taxpayers’ money to prosecute your case against 34 Essendon players.Please excuse my wobbly typing. I am shaking with rage with your actions and lack of action.Yours sincerelyBruce Francis

Another doozy from Bruce, imploring Susan Ley to either call an emergency meeting of the WADA executive to discuss his claims or resign from the executive herself: http://twitdoc.com/view.asp?id=246145&sid=59XD&ext=PDF&lcl=Attention-Susan-Ley-CAS-Strands-Response-BFrancis-2Feb2016.pdf&usr=TheGovernorSM&doc=297688822&key=key-klfY6EMdzE2wgPiY6XC1 As one poster on BF said "the cheese has fallen off the cracker".

I think you're getting Bruce the Goose confused with "the Sea Kyaker" aka Martin Hardie. Francis was severely peed off when the Essendonians (Dons coterie of which my mate is a member) commissioned Hardie to document the saga many months ago. Francis thought he'd get the job.

What never ceases to amaze me is the number of Dons supporters I know (>12) who believe to a man, that their side did nothing wrong. If you have a spare 20 minutes, and you're up for a laugh, Bruce 'the Goose' Francis is posting once again (or rather, tweeting). Here's a sample: http://twitdoc.com/view.asp?id=245888&sid=59Q8&ext=PDF&lcl=CAS-Strands-Response-BFrancis-2Feb2016.pdf&usr=TheGovernorSM&doc=297577442&key=key-3hvMidUrRs00psjuV7Ni Ancient Tiger, a medical professional, whose posts on BF I've quoted here. addresses a number of points Francis makes: "Bruce makes many errors. For instance, there is no known marketed injectable form of melatonin. It is only available in oral form. Melatonan II is the alternative but doesn't help at all with sleep, which is what McVeigh said he got the injection for. It is also a banned drug as it has not been approved for human therapeutic use. So he is arguing he didn't get TB4 - he got another prohibited drug!Thymomodulin is not available or even efficacious at doses of 2mg/ml. That is the dose for TB4.You do not check an athletes blood for IGF-1 to check his health. You check the level to have a baseline to watch in case your peptides increase it above the allowable level. This is one way WADA/ASADA check for the administration of banned peptides.There is no photographic evidence of thymomodulin at Essendon or in Dank's fridge as Bruce states. The photo is that of a photo of an ampoule with a amateur label on it. It could have been take in Mexico for all we know!Mr Del Vecchio did tell Dank that the peptides he used were banned. He did this because Dank told him which peptides he used. Bruce has got this completely wrong. He still uses the outdated Interim report to make conclusions about many things which is clearly wrong.Thymosin beta 4 was advertised back in those days as having both immune boosting properties AND tissue repair properties. Since then, the immune boosting properties have disappeared from his website and only appear on one line at peptide clinics where Alavi is involved. It is almost as if they are mopping up their mess. ......"

From Ancient Tiger on BF (tonight) talking about a phone call he had from a mate: "Dank did not say they were PEDs. He just told him the peptides he was giving them. He actually told him they were permitted substances. It was only after my friend asked me if I knew anything about these peptides that I found out that they were banned. I just performed an ASADA check at home. I emailed my friend back this information - an email I still hold today - time/date stamped March 2012. He rang Dank immediately, who paused on the phone and then in typical Dank fashion, said he never said such a thing. I don't have to spell anything else out in public as this information is available to the public already. It is in the CAS report if you care to read it. ... I might be a doctor but my friend definitely isn't. It is one of the reasons he asked me about these peptides. He had no idea what they were and back in March 2012, nobody outside of the bodybuilding industry and drug dopers knew what they were. We are all experts now but back then it was very different."

Apologies if this has been posted (below). Chris Kaias has a (fledgling) legal background and his posts on BF are generally respected. https://chriskaias.wordpress.com/2016/01/25/the-essendon-cas-verdict-your-top-15-questions-answered/