SaberFang

Essendon/the players won't touch Dank because they all know they were all complicit. Every shred of evidence points towards the players being either: a) willfully complicit b) willfully ignorant Neither are a defence for taking performance enhancing drugs. They've lied and obfuscated to ASADA and the AFL. They lied about their off-site injections. Every single one of them lied to testers when questioned by ASADA about having injections, so they were clearly instructed by the club what to tell them. The narrative that they were innocent players is false; this was all a highly clinical, and the lawyer strategy for all parties when they got caught was: act surprised, act ignorant, act confused and use the Essendon mouthpieces in the media to run an endless smear campaign against ASADA. All despite the fact that every shred of evidence points to the players being complicit in the program. I wouldn't be surprised if Dank has surveillance, audio or video evidence of conversations had with the players at his clinic while giving these injections. There are reasons the players have attacked every other party they possibly can, from the AFL to ASADA to WADA, but never against their own club, Hird or Dank. They all knew what was going on, and they know they can't go after those parties, because they were all in it together.

That is correct. The panel the AFL handpicked, the panel ASADA were warned by insiders was designed to get the players off and protect the AFL's commercial interests, hence the appeal. And lo and behold, every hearing since has thrown out Essendon's case with great haste.

You mean, exactly like the AFL setting up an "AFL Tribunal" to rig the outcome of their own kangaroo court and ensure all the players got off, purely because they were looking out for their own commercial interests? As for Slobbo? The half-drunk, compromised, biased Essendon mouthpiece, fed his "exclusives" by Essendon's media unit and instructed by the upper echelon of Limited News (whose senior partners are Essendon ticket holders) to defend the club no matter the stupidity of his arguments? Well, who can defend the indefensible? There's only one person being 'deluded' here.

It's disgusting they weren't sanctioned when the WADA findings came down, and yet again nothing will come of today's upholding of that decision by the highest court in the world. For all the damage Essendon have wrought about the image of the game, at the very least they should be punished for bringing the game into disrepute. But nope, can't hurt poor Essendon, don't want to hurt those gate takings for AFL HQ do we?

As echoed above, they have no right to have pick 1, yet look set to access a treasure trove of early draft picks. Would it be good management for our club to run a doping program, get caught by WADA, have our entire list banned for 2 years but get pick 1 two years running? I doubt the AFL would be as generous with us as they have been with Essendon, bending over backwards doing everything in their power to help them get back up the ladder.

It'll be 5 minutes after the Federal Government announces alcohol tax increases.

That wouldn't be the deal -- Essendon are trying to force their hands into giving up multiple top 10 picks in exchange for pick 1, by blackmailing them via their scumbag mates in the media that they will [censored] them over and bid on both their Academy players with pick 1. There is literally no other reason to start playing this game through the media unless that's Essendon's agenda. Remember that GWS and Gold Coast look likely to end up with picks 3, 4, 5, 6 & 8 in this draft, and Essendon could tank their entire draft strategy with Academy bids at pick 1. Whether they take the bluff is another matter. Any non-Academy club would laugh at Essendon's predicament and keep picks 3 & 5/4, 6 & 8 for themselves, but the Academy bidding process changes the whole situation. They want to acquire their Academy kids for cheap picks at the end of the first round but also get 2 or 3 kids in the top 8 of the open draft (ie, they want to have their cake and eat it too, which is exactly what the bidding process was meant to prevent).

Also LOL at their lawyers, they must be popping the champagne as we speak. "We have very strong grounds for appeal after the WADA verdict!" Hilarious! Talk about a gravy train to put their grandchildren through University. Thanks Tird!

THE SWISS COURT APPEAL HAS FAILED! They are now, for all time, officially GUILTY and CONVICTED DRUG CHEATS. Hand back the medal Jobe, you cheat.

If the Bombers trade pick 1 for a combination of picks 3 & 5 from GWS, that's such an awful lose-lose outcome for every other team. And you just know it'll happen because the Bombers are big enough assholes to outright threaten to bid on their Academy players with pick 1 and screw up all their draft picks if they refuse to do the trade. The Bombers will rebound faster with multiple top 10 picks than pick 1 alone, and GWS get to continue rorting the Academy system by getting not only the best player of the open draft but even more top 5 players via their Academy for a bunch of late first rounders. The fact is the Academy bidding system pollutes the draft with corruption; any other team would be over the moon to have 3 & 5 in this draft, but GWS' concessions mean they are actually better off trading down those picks then hoarding some late first rounders. No non-Academy club would give up those picks in exchange for one, and without Academies clubs Essendon wouldn't be able to blackmail teams into trades.

I would love to see this backfire spectacularly on Hawthorn but unfortunately I fear Clarko will turn him around. I can't fathom why they would go after him with that much cash though, just mindboggling.

Just wait until all the compensation picks are handed out! It will be even lower. Band 3 compo likely for Fremantle and Richmond if they lose Mayne & Vickery at the rumoured price.

If you really think types like McGuire play fairly inside the rulebook, there's no point even wasting my energy explaining to you how reality works in the industry. But, whatever helps you sleep at night I guess!

I'm sure clubs like Collingwood and Hawthorn exploit loopholes in the salary cap, such as securing luxurious discounts on things like cars from their primary sponsors. For example, if a player wishes to purchase a car from Audi (Hawks), Jeep (Richmond) or Holden (Collingwood), they almost certainly receive them on the cheap with the club offsetting the costs somehow outside of the cap. It's no secret that Eddie uses his connections in the media to secure Collingwood players handsome "appearance fees" on The Footy Show, none of which fall under the salary cap.

A bit awkward that he retired after shopping himself around and realising nobody else wanted him. I mean, yikes! Talk about a figjam.

God, all the [censored] excuses they invented to deny our request in 2013. We were only bad because of injuries! Because our list was so young! We still had plenty of youth and just needed time. What absolute horseshit; they clearly had no intention of giving us anything and looked for any excuse to help Brisbane here, despite the fact the exact same reasons they used to justify snubbing us apply equally to Brisbane's situation right now. Of course, in this situation though, they'll conveniently overlook the fact that their losses were a result of a clueless senior coach who had lost the players for years. And ignore that Brisbane are one of 4 clubs with a free-hit at elite talent via an Academy! Oh, and completely ignore the fact their soulless club has won 3 premierships in the last 15 years! Wish someone had dragged out Swann's scathing comments from a few years back about us getting a priority pick. Conveniently kept his mouth shut once the shoe was on the other foot and he was down on both knees begging for the AFL to buy him a new coach, a new coaching panel, a new GM of football and a priority pick as the cherry on top. I guess money on a tap from AFL HQ is fine when it's your own hand outstretched, you [censored] hypocritical [censored]!

I can't believe how he got ball to boot in the middle of a tackle late in the 3rd (or early in the 4th?) He's a freak, considering how huge he is there's so much agility and elegance to his movements.

And it certainly sends a message to clubs like Richmond, Collingwood, North Melbourne, etc. that there's really no excuse for endlessly treading water in the 6-12 range of the ladder for 5 years. You either compete or you fail and start again.

The entire point of Academies is to gift those 4 teams the best 4 players in their states every year. Imagine if the same thing happened in Victoria to only 2 rich clubs.

Could Harbinger43 be the Harbinger of Doom?

A pick that ultimately went to Marchbank, who is walking out on them this year (for a much lesser pick, no doubt). Griffin will leave that club without winning a premiership. I'd say the Dogs will end up ahead if Boyd truly has blossomed after today.

I'm sure we're all a bit drunk but facts are facts: Dogs have won a premiership this century; we now hold the longest premiership drought in the entire competition. And we sure as [censored] ain't going to break that drought with half-hearted players that aren't committed to the cause. The reason teams win premierships is because every single player on their list is 200% committed to a single purpose.

The problem is clearly on Hogan's end and his inability to commit to us. The MFC would obviously be saying, what the hell do you actually want from us at this point? Short contract? Long contract? Not enough money? Everything points to the same conclusion: deep down, in his heart, Hogan isn't committed to the club and the club are becoming, rightfully, fed up with the games.

The Dogs did a fantastic job ridding every corner of their club of players who weren't committed, and it nabbed them a premiership. Can you imagine Bontempelli, Stringer, Macrae, Libba, Dahlhaus, any of those players delaying contract talks and inventing excuses as Hogan has with us? None of them can wait to sign their next extension. They also ridded themselves of mercenaries like Ward, Griffin, Cooney and Higgins. Would you take any of them back now? [censored] no! Either buy-in or [censored] off; there are clearly still cultural issues with the MFC and they won't be solved until every player is on-board with the sole objective of sustained success for a success-starved club.

After watching the Dogs today, I'm done with anyone who isn't dedicated to the club, dedicated to the cause, and dedicated to getting us our next premiership. A player perpetually delaying their next contract doesn't interest me. Sign on or [censored] off. If you aren't 200% committed to the single goal of winning us our first premiership cup in however many decades, I don't want you at the club; it only serves as a disservice to the club and the rest of the playing group who are clearly on-board.