Chris

Can't wait to see opposition teams thinking about having 2 players in tagging roles against us, as long as they aren't as good as Bernie was a couple of years ago!

He ended up tagged against WC in the second half, not AFL proper but as close as he has been. He was no where near as effective with the tag, but it probably freed Viney and Co a bit, although I thought Viney and a few other mids were pretty disappointing against WC.

As I said, maybe I was just being stupid, and idealistic, and naive. Although it didn't surprise me that that is what they did at all, just reading any paper now days will tell you that, what surprised me was that he openly admitted it!

Damon Johnson, associate editor at the sun was on MMM this morning and made a very telling comment. I think it was Eddie who made a comment along the lines of 'you guys have been behind the players throughout this' and Damon responded with ' I don't think we have been biased in our reporting, it was simply a case that Essendon had a story to tell and we told it, The AFL also had a story to tell and through Caro at The Age and they told that one'. Of course they all went on to bad Caro, about the only Journo who has seen this for what it is form day one. Excuse if I am being stupid but I always thought the job of a journo was to report on news, and in doing so present all aspects of the news and then let the reader decide, yet here is a senior editor of the Herald Sun openly saying they did not do that and they consciously chose to report one side a story!

One thing I have noticed is that he seems to handball the ball from anywhere, as in it isn't always from his hand. If you watch in teh clearances he will sort of gather but int he same motion hit the ball forward. There was one I watched the other day (can't remember which game, may have been a replay of the Hawks game last year) where he tucked the ball under his arm to run, was about to be tackled so handballed the ball from tucked under his arm. Of course it went straight to the player intended and off we went. This isn't a skill I have noticed before. His usually has a pretty soft touch on the ball to and just puts it to clear advantage of a team mate. Must be nice being on the end of them.

But but but this will only make him look a martyr and the innocent party, surely that is what the public will think. If I put more mumbles and drunken slurs I can really heard Robbo saying that.

As long as there is a record of what it was, and they have cleared it with ASADA then we don't need to know what it was Saty.

I read it very much as an attack/investigation on ASADA. Good luck with that one. The AFL on the other hand, bunch of incompetent fools.

And then the idiot goes on to claim he is doing everything for the well being of the players! Wouldn't knowing what actually happened be number 1 of the list of things you would do if you were interested int eh well being of the players. Not to mention that this is 6 months after the story broke and they still haven't started to work out what is going on. Just confirms again that they really don't care for the players and were in it for themselves from day 1.

Don't forget the players as well Abe. Their lack of responsibility and adherence to the code is why we are here, no matter what their motives were.

Problem with that rjay is that the AFL didn't know they were doing anything wrong, they only suspected it might be. It is a massive hole you dig yourself when you ban someone from doing something you think might be banned without actually knowing, imagine the law suits that would have come out of that! All the AFl could do was tell the EFC to be very careful and refer the matter to ASADA to investigate. I think they did do this. It is one of the very few things they seem to have got right int eh whole affair.

Hird Snr clearly doesn't get the WADA code, what it is, how it works, and where precedent lies. pretty much straight from the handbook of the jibbering mule.

It is funny reading in the comments that even after Patrick points out the difference between the governance penalties and the banned substance penalties, there is still an individual called Ruth who is completely confused about the goings on what which hearing was for what. No surprise she is a Hird fan.

There still is online. Good old Bomber Thompson having a swipe at the AFL again saying how badly treated they all were.

Hi Wrecker. The bolded bit is of great importance. Hird was the head coach, the first responsibility of any head coach is to the welfare of his players. If Hird had any doubts he had to make sure everything was fine, he didn't, in fact when Ried raised concerns about the program Hird went over his head to Robson to complain that the program was being held up. Not the move of a smart manager concerned for the welfare of his players. As head coach Hird is also responsibly for the conduct of all coaches, any failure by them is a failure for him too, that is why the managers earn the big bucks and get the bigger penalties. He failed here to. The other area he failed was his rhetoric about doing all the court appeals for the players, [censored], the players would not really have benefitted in any way from any of the court action taken by the club, it was all backside saving shenanigans by all involved. He could not have handled that worse. I wont go into his intent to cheat as it isn't clear enough either way. Although I do hold a view, it isn't strong enough to put on public record. All in all his experience as head coach is irrelevant, he was the head coach and from day one takes on certain responsibilities, he failed at those and failed miserably and should have taken the slap when it was offered.

As much as I can't stand this man, his club, and what has happened I wish him all the best and hope he finds a way out of the mire he appears to be in.

Wasn't panadol, it was apparently Nurofen and her coach gave it to her. Many pain killers and cold meds used to, and many still do, contain psuedoephedrine which is a banned substance. Just goes to show why it is so important for athletes to check everything they take and don't trust anyone but ASADA with what is banned and what is not. Just goes to show the whole defense the players went with of 'but the people we trusted said it was fine'. Does not cut it by a mile, even though very few, if any, in AFL land actually get this yet!

I have 2 issues with the players. 1: They have not been contrite in any way and still harp on about being innocent and hard done by, which come from the club mainly. They should just take the punishment, come back and do their job. They have that right and although I would never really respect them they have the right to return to their life. 2: (which is actually aimed at the media) The return of the players should not be celebrated in any way shape or fashion. The whole come back story the EFC are running is disgusting. The players should have simply returned and got on with things. The AFL should have shut down any thought of celebrations or fan fair as it is entirely inappropriate to celebrate the return of a cheat, what sort of message does that send! As we all know the AFL are inept and entirely incompetent and bound to the short term dollar, they have no sense of what is best for the game long term!

He has a lifetime ban from all WADA sports, not just the AFL.

The tribunal essentially have asked for a medical certificate and without that the trial doesn't go ahead.

Tracey Holmes, hahahahahahahahahhaha

It actually isn't about the EFC boys, he conveniently wasn't found guilty by the AFL for any charge to do with them at all. What he was found guilty of, and what he is appealing, is a bunch of things form other places.

I may be wrong but I don't think Dank was found guilty with anything to do with TB4 so I am not sure it would be in any way admissible to talk about it as it is irrelevant to this case. He may be using this expert to talk about the substances he was found guilty of trafficking etc.

He didn't turn up to his case the other week as well. I think it was a defamation case. He lost without a hearing and had to pay all legal fees.

I have never worked out what TWSNNN is. Not surprised wkik has been edited, it is probably in the PD for one of the staff to make sure there is no mention of it.