Chris

I love the fact that worksafe say this is a warning to all employers that you must provide a safe work place. The max fine was around 300k per offence and somehow they think this slap on the wrist is a warning! It reminds me of the NFL drug code where if you are caught you get a slap and then get all the benefit of the wrongdoing as well!

Good point about the bowlers, fidnt think if that one. I agree that in all pursuits there are drugs that can help, if it isnt for strength it may be for reaction time, or length of concentration etc etc. No sport is immune but i dont accept it is common for PED use by most athletes in most sports.

go and tell the kindergarden teacher all your toys have fallen out of your cot and you want your mummy because the big bad bully isn't very nice to me?

I think there is use in most sports, there are always those looking for an edge who wants the shortcut, just like in every aspect of life. I think the WADA code has done a lot to reduce use among semi professionals as you actually need to be quite sophisticated to get away with it now days as they test for all the common substances and it is the uncommon ones, like TB4, that you need to be in the know to actually know to use it. I think drugs are rife in the US but that is due to dollars and the governing bodies preferring to turn a blind eye. I know little about soccer as I have no interest in it. Cricket would surprise me and the only drugs I can think of that would help would be stimulants for batting. There were rumours of the F1 drivers using various stimulants to sharpen their reflexes during races. There is one sport that may well be full of drugs and no one would ever know, Bernie wouldn't allow it ever getting out. Coming from a background in amateur sport (where there are very very few professionals, and 99% of the ones there are don't earn huge dollars) I would be very surprised to see usage in these sports above the standard rogue person looking for an edge. Certainly wouldn't be prolific and widespread. I certainly never saw anything like it during my time near the top. I would think the same applies to other amateur sports such as those I started listing, and there are heaps of them. I do have concerns but they are more due to the systematic condoning of PED use by administrations, and acceptance of that by the public, than it is a concern that use in most sports is more than just a few bad apples.

Was thinking that while reading through the article and it was all confirmed with his last line. Threw away any perception of impartiality he had in those few words. I wonder if he is/was tied to the case in some way?

Last one, I promise. Macca, here a quote from your initial comment " PED use is in every sport and it's use is done to a large degree in most sports (IMO)" Is it easier on the legs peddling backwards?

OK, so we go from all sport with most having prolific use, down to 2 of the five you watch have big issues (which is no surprise looking a the sports), and the other 3 you watch being questionable. Thanks for clearing up that you exaggerated massively with your initial claims.

I am sure there is Macca, your point that it is rife in most is the issue, I call bollocks. The problem with the five you have listed is four of them are not signed to WADA for entirely obvious reasons. All the other sports would have a minority of users but many of those will be found in time. Do you have anything to base these thoughts on or is it just a hunch due to interest for the last 30 years or so?

What do you classify as the big 5? Soccer, NFL, NBL, Baseball, and what? My gripe is more around your language, the use of terms such as 'all sports' when making such categorical claims doesn't sit well. Does this include Darts, billiards, orienteering, etc etc? These are all sports and you have said that within these there is PED use and it is rife in most. Where does most cut out, is it somewhere around indoor soccer, maybe golf, what about free diving, or even rock climbing, which of these have massive PED issues?

I think it is a big call to say it is done to a large degree, that would imply most people, I don't think this is so, but I am not naive enough to think it doesn't happen at all. I also wouldn't be surprised at all to see far more use in suburban leagues than in their respective professional leagues due to the amount of education and control in place.

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.

There arent any ambulances to chase so he doesn't seem to quite get it

He links to the social littigator within the article. Her name is Natalie Hickey.

Great article. Answered the questions well and filled in some holes.

That's not a problem with the code, it is a problem with the sport. Arguing this is really arguing that we should be allowed to juice up our players and you should ban is not the players, so the team still gets the benefit. Laughable and exactly what the code aims to stamp out. Pretty much every very argument I have heard as to why it doesn't suit is from people with little understanding of why the code is how it is, and everyone of these thinks the players are innocent and are spitting the dummy.

That's because it does.

The appeal was not based on any legal error. In the process WADA have the right to appeal any ruling for any reason to CAS. It seems wrong but it is there to protect sport from governing bodies of sports putting in patsy judges, hearing everything exactly as the law requires, and then delivering the ruling the governing body wanted. Why does that sound familiar?

His gripe seems to be that the rules changed after the fact and allowed a de novo hearing and didn't require an appeal to be dependent on a mistake in law. Wouldn't it have been good to raise this issue before the appeal, he had a good 7 months or so to work it out between the announcement of the appeal and the start of the hearing. Crying about the rules being wrong after being caught just makes you look like a petulant child. He also has a factual errors in his little speel as well, like 4 of the 6 finding the players not guilty, that is a little misleading at best!

A mark of the year nomination or 3!

It was pretty clear what they were after, good tough nut mid - Oliver, A good young tall to develop - the weid, strong competitors to step in straight away and add depth to the mids - Kennedy, Strong competitors to add depth to half back - Bugg and Melksham. They may not be the best there is at their trade but they are better than what we lost, with the possible exception of Howe. That is an improvement.

The only time I can think of him saying they is when referring to a particular par of the club, like the players, or admin, or coaches, or supporters. In all instances they is the right word to use. When he is talking about the club as a whole he does sometimes say Melbourne but mainly says we. Saying Melbourne instead of 'we' may well come from teh marketing department as it constantly puts the name out there, which is a good thing.

Nailed it. So many people don't realise how valuable the accreditation is the sports journos and how careful they have to be for fear of losing it. As Bossdog points out, Rita doesn't have one, and has no need for one in the future, hence she calls it as it actually is, not how they need to in order to keep their job!

I think in this solution it has some merit but only if the club lending the player gets to chose who the player is. Have it as a raffle for the top up players. The 17 non cheating clubs go in a draw and 12 are selected out. Each of these 12 can chose any player off their list and they go to the bombers. All wages, moving, and accommodation cost are to be borne by the EFC. The players may hate the idea but they would be getting senior games experience and he chance to show their wares. I would also love to see the Dons running around with the worst player from 12 other lists, would be a weekly blood bath. It also means they cant chose for position either, they may end up with no rucks, or no backs etc. Would be hilarious watching them try and play. They would end up with probably a worse them than with the top ups they are going to use who are all just retired previously best 22 (or near to) from other clubs. Bring it on!

I wouldn't think they can use Melbourne Storm facilities as the NRL is also under the WADA code. As long as the AFL havent pulled a shifty when signing up to the code then the players are banned from all sports that are under the WADA code. That is why there is talk of them going to the USA to train in the drug filled NFL system.

That was in reference to out tanking, not the EFC.