Mazer Rackham

Had EFC gotten away with it, and won a flag in 2012, or 2013, would Gil have had huge sympathy for the players of the runner up club?

I get that, OD. I expect them to stick up for the players. Their lack of comprehension skills notwithstanding. But they seem confused as to their role. Are they sticking up for the players or the AFL? The AFLPA should be insisting on WADA compliance as that's their members' best protection from drug cheating.

AFLPA press conference. AFLPA can't understand how CAS could get it so wrong. Didn't they read the AFL tribunal decision??? You see, it seems the players were duped and did everything in their power to find out what they were given and whether it was prohibited. Oh, and the AFL should divorce themselves from WADA.

This is the damage that EFC have inflicted on the game. Disrepute, terrible publicity, huge legal bills, and a skewed fixture. Three years already, another year to come, and christ knows what other fallout. For years to come, we will be reading extra snippets about the disgraceful behaviour of 2012 that emerge in the various court proceedings.

Surely you can't be in any doubt as to any of this? (Although I think they will, with great reluctance, eventually, remove the Brownlow.)

Are you saying they were in close contact?

The report does say that not everyone knew, that there was an "inner circle" of only a few people who really knew the exact substances.

Today's decision does nothing to affect Goodwin. But what is to follow might ... now that it's shown that the players took TB-4, ASADA may now go after the coaches and support staff ...

I wonder if Dank will now produce the evidence that completely exonerates the players like he claimed he would do when the time was right?

So the first novel in the trilogy has wound to its conclusion. The But some teasers have been put down for what might be in the second book: going after Hird and his gang of support staff. The third book will be the lawsuits ... the threads of the plot will be laid down in the second book.

Robbo accetps that Jobe will have to hand back the Brownlow.

Some of them will never understand and will probably occupy a wildlife reserve in Oregon to protest at the overreach of ASADA, WADA, the AFL, the ALP, the LNP, the UN, etc.

Robbo is on SEN now. Sounds down in the dumps. Referred to the "brutality" of the responsibility for players to know what is going into them.

Interesting stuff in the CAS report. They (CAS) found that the programme was concealed from Doc Reid and that it can't be assumed that Reid was aware that TB4 injections were going on. That the players knew that their "supplements regime" was "controversial" at the very least. That the players took steps to conceal or deflect regarding the programme. One player who suffered cardiac arrhythmia was referred (by Reid) to a specialist who asked the player what he was taking that might affect the medication he was about to prescribe. Players said only vitamins. Specialist contacted Reid who said no, nothing. (Because Reid had been kept out of the loop.) Serious bickies. Very concerning. Dank kept records of the programme but he was "patchy" about it. That the substance was pretty obviously TB4 and that it can't be taken seriously that it was anything else. That TB-4 got to Essendon. And that maybe some went to other Dank projects but just because some went elsewhere, it can't be inferred that none went to Essendon, which is what the players wanted CAS to find. That the "chain" from China to Essendon can't be proven, but that it doesn't really matter. It was obvious that TB4 was at Ess and it doesn't matter how it got there. That the players did not take steps to find out if what they were given was prohibited. that they did pretty much SFA in that regard. It's pretty damning, but the surprise is that it pretty much lets Doc Reid off the hook.

It was Ings who invented the term "blackest day in Oz sport" but has since been happy to let pollies, ASADA, anyone else take the blame for the hyperbole.

Hird (alternate mix): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYHZUlf_z6o

CAS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RT3cx1b9ZM Jobe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZarmRLa2p9Q AFL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxTzn_AlD8w

This is one of the most disgraceful parts of the saga. That ASADA and WADA have been painted as "bad guys". Reprehensible, and those responsible, including a number of media stooges, deserve many sleepless nights.

Journos threw darts at a calendar, OD. But CAS themselves said week of Jan 11. Only 7 more sleeps.

Mixed feelings about the Goodwin/Hexarelin thing. I really disapprove of the demonstrated casual attitude to having banned drugs around ... and I don't mean cold tablets, but growth hormones and hormone act-alikes. You'd think any upright official would have their hair stand on end at the very thought of such stuff on the premises. If only in fear of the consequences should ASADA come knocking, let along any side effects on the players' health. On the other hand ... there is a suspicion that many clubs were "on the edge" with "supplements" (a few seconds thought conjures the names of several clubs) and if there was a culture throughout AFL clubs of tolerance if not outright approval, then it may be unfair to single out Goodwin. The AFL sure didn't want to find out anything in their amazingly efficient "audit" of the 17 other clubs ... "Attention all clubs ... we will be auditing your use of supplements ... attention ... attention ... we're coming in ... (have you shredded your documents yet?) ... here we come ready or not ... well how about that! No evidence of supplement abuse! What a relief." (I recognise that it's highly likely that no other club was doing it on the industrial scale that EFC were.) Doesn't mean he wasn't in the wrong but unless we were party to the MFC interview with Goodwin, we'll never know what they asked and why they didn't lower the boom gate. But don't be surprised if WADA lower the boom gate on him instead. It's still very possible.

I heard it was only vitamins, and anyway, the AFL tribunal found them all completely innocent of everything except being loyal servants of their club.

Another leak from the CAS hearing. Queries over sentencing discounts for Bombers It doesn't pay to read too much into this kind of stuff, but it strikes me that none of the CAS hearing leaks have been favourable to the bombers.

The consent forms came about when the players realised that if the mitt hit the pan, they could be in a spot of bother. So they wanted indemnity. "You can't blame us. We didn't do this off our own bat; see here." But they made two mistakes. One, they had Dank write the forms. I saw somewhere else that he based it on an x-ray consent form from a pathology clinic. Legal wiz, that guy. Two, the forms actually indemnified the club against the players! I have thought for a long time that the thing that will sink the players, if they are sunk in the end, will be that they put in writing that they were prepared to take these substances.

Out to mid-Jan apparently. January decision on Essendon supplements saga