Mazer Rackham

That could explain why the AFL is happy to fund the AFLPA. To minimise the chance of dissent. ... and for those who do dissent, there are always the unfortunate possibilities of having to travel to Perth twice, multiple Sunday twilight games, only playing big drawing clubs away, etc. Same thing for journos who get a bit too "investigative" and not enough "the players were duped". Be awful if someone's accreditation got pulled.

Can the AFL be charged with bringing the nation into disrepute? We can no longer stand on our high horse about drugs in sports, thanks to EFC, but if we let Jobby keep his medal???

Yes. Except the game being played is Old Maid.

It sounds like the AFL are softening up the public for a particular outcome ... Jeff Browne the wholly disinterested and impartial lawyer ... Robbo the mindless mouthpiece ... There's only outcome that would require any softening. Cutting the cost of a pie may be good PR for the AFL, but this?

I heard this beacon of enlightenment proclaim only a week or so ago, on the radio, that Watson shouldn't keep it. Roboo, man of principal.

This could backfire spectacularly on the Dankster.

I used to watch Cousins and his incredible intensity and just assumed he had a good mental game. But it could have been stimulants. Amphetamines = stimulants. For players who need a bit of a gee-up. Marijuana = depressant. For players who get too keyed up before a game and waste energy. Party drugs can most definitely enhance performance.

Everybody's talking 'bout D'landers, grand standers, web sites, bomb sights, naviculars, particulars, Nathan Jones, Dawes groans, Ollie Wines, JT shrines, back formations, Watts frustrations, congratulations. All I am saying ... is give peace a chance.

Don Hyde on 3UZ. "Flower with the ball now, he takes one bounce, kicks it long to the square ... let's cross now to the 4th at Moonee Valley."

Imagine there's no injuries It isn't hard to do No players out of form And no suspensions too Imagine all the midfield In the twenty-two Imagine no bad losses I wonder if you can No need for gnashing or wailing Or meltdowns on SEN Imagine if the Demons Scraped into the eight Yoo-hoo, woo-woo-woo You may say I'm a dreamer But I'm not the only one I hope someday you'll join us And D'land will be as one

Visa mix up my foot. They were probably still mad at all the times he ran the ball into trouble last season.

Fanboy wishin' dreamin' and hopin' disguised as learned discourse.

That's exactly what Jack was told when he said his foot was sore. That's given us some great moments. Dean Jones' 200 in India. That chick in the Olympics who stumbled over the line in the marathon. Rugby league players who take hit after hit after hit. But the pendulum is swinging the other way. Jones was hospitalised. The marathon runner endangered her own safety. Rugby players suffering early Alzheimers. We're looking at these things differently now. It can be "tough" or "hard" or "gutsy" while at the same time being f***ing stupid. It's all in how you weigh it up.

I take your point. But if those players get on the park this season, they will be booed to kingdom come for 120 minutes solid, each week. It will blacken Essendon's name even more. I don't think the injunction will be granted though.

If it makes you feel better, this appeal won't get up. All it will do is give the players false hope. And then rub salt in their wounds.

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.

No, it's the old AFL. I haven't heard anyone from any other sport going on about this in any fashion other than "they did the crime so now do the time". The PR war is over but there are still some skirmishes going on here and there. They won that battle in the PR war.

Crikey had that article on their main page but quickly removed it. About the same time, the author's twitter account closed. It looks like someone might be in a touch of hot water.

Because (1) we don't need it because we're AUSSIES and AUSSIES don't cheat, and (2) an AFL team got caught. Like dolphin in a tuna net. Both in violation of the Australian Constitution.

What he has is the list of the various substances actually put into the players. The thought of that getting out terrifies the EFC (and by extension the AFL). They have gotten off lightly. No way known they will do anything to upset Dank's apple cart.

Maybe or maybe not but at least it lets the circus go on. My thoughts:the players thought the consent forms were giving them indemnity, they actually indemnified the club against the players, and most likely are as legally robust as anything formulated by Dennis Denuto.

Gil Vader: "You don't know the power of The Deal!" "The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of The Deal."

Well, what a steaming pile that was. For those who didn't watch it, it covered exactly no new ground, and revealed nothing at all that hasn't been known for ages. Holmes read out from a list of prepared questions and regardless of what Hird answered, simply went on to the next question. No followups from Tracey to any question at all. Except for a few minor "how did that make you feel" fluff. Eg. when Hird said that Robinson and Dank were in the high performance unit under Hamilton and he had nothing to do with any of them. But at some point a meeting was held to discuss sacking Robinson and Dank .... at Hird's home. Obvious followup: if you had nothing to do with the high performance unit, why was the meeting at your home? Or when asked about Robinson ... "I think he made mistakes. Big mistakes." Obvious followup: what mistakes did he make? But nothing. Next question. Or when Hird said that he still believes that the players took no banned drugs. Obvious follow up: how do you explain the text from Dank to you talking about thymosin? By the way, the word "thymosin" was not mentioned at all. Hird was careful to use the word (once) "thymomodulin". (The not-banned one.) Most questions were a setup. "James, here was a situation which paints you in an unfavourable light. Can you explain how that was someone else's fault?" And James duly obliged. The first 5 minutes were for Jim to say how sorry he is and how he accepts a measure of responsibility. The rest was open season on throwing people under a bus, or if Holmes placed them in front of a bus, Jim didn't attempt to pull them out of the way. She went through a list of people for James to take a free swing at. (And he did.) Holmes: "The first name obviously, would be ..." (Dank?, thinks I.) "... Andrew Demetriou." AFL, ASADA, CAS ... all happily sacrificed the 34 players on the basis of zero evidence. If any of you played drinking game where you took a swig if "the players", "I'm doing it for the players" was mentioned, you would be in no position to be reading this. You wouldn't be able to turn on your computer. It was Holmes' impression of a hard hitting interview. A failure on that front. A Today Tonight interview would have revealed more.

If the players are being paid, it's harder for them to demonstrate "loss" and thus harder to launch court action against the EFC.

"James, this saga has taken an incredible toll on your health and wellbeing. Being the target of a worldwide conspiracy to destroy your amazing legacy in the game is something that only happens to superlative human beings. Yet the falsehoods and groundless accusations intended to destroy you and the club haven't damaged you in any way. Can you explain to our audience here tonight just exactly how fabulous you are?" "Thanks Tracey. You're right, it hasn't been easy being a beacon of truth and light against the forces of evil and darkness. I would have spent many sleepless nights wondering just what lies in the hearts of such men, if I hadn't been lying awake concerned about the players. Because everything I've done, I've done for the players. It's a terrible thing that WADA, ASADA, Andruska, McDevitt, Downes, Young, the AFL, McLachlan, Demetriou, Dillon, Clothier, Haddad, Harcourt, Clare, Lundy, Dutton, Gillard, Evans, Little, Switkowski, Robson, Campbell, Lukin, Thompson, Corcoran, Hamilton, Robinson, Dank, Charter, Alavi, Reid ... all people who I trusted, to be let down by every one of them does hurt a little. And the players, who I gave everything to, to be betrayed by them too has been disappointing. But I've got broad shoulders, Tracey. I'd rather take on all the pain and hurt and suffering in the world rather than let the players endure one moment of anxiety, but they did bring it on themselves. As for all the others who betrayed me so outrageously, well, I'm too big a man to let one negative thought about those liars, cheats and backstabbers enter my mind. It's all behind me Tracey. But I will continue to fight. It's my nature to seek truth and justice. Against all the odds, I can't let them win. For the players' sakes." "Oh James, you wonderful man. Take me." "What, here on stage? I thought we agreed to do it back at the hotel?"