Whispering_Jack

The club's report - http://www.scorpions.com.au/home/match-reports/35-season-2013/912-pre-season-game-3-v-williamstown.html

They're talking about the two Collingwood players facing possible drug charges. Will Roosy get a word in?

Thanks binman

The Barometer: Check out who is hurt ahead and who might figure in your clubs Round 1 team It hasn't always been entirely accurate in the past but FWIW ... ... and the opposition -

Pleasure reading a thread that's predominantly about football.

From the Age article in the opening post ~ "The players have both been suspended after recording a failed test in the A sample collected earlier in the year. The B sample is due to be tested and returned in April." I haven't had the opportunity to delve deeply into this story today but does anyone know why have they been suspended after failing the A sample but before the testing of the B sample whereas Crowley was allowed to play on after the A sample was taken and it wasn't until after the result of the B sample that the AFL issued him with a ‘show-cause’ notice and it was a week after that when he voluntarily accepted a provisional suspension notice?

I agree that it's bad for football in that after two years and almost two months of the darkest day controversy, we still have idiots repeating the same mistakes. Forgive my cynicism but not everyone will lose - we have a legal system comprised of lots of lawyers who want to send their kids and their grandkids to expensive private schools and the Essendon gravy train could stop soon for some of them.

Agree wholeheartedly but then Titus O'Reilly has an interesting take on this - Collingwood currently retreating from the high moral ground

Regarding Dank's claim that "Thymosin Beta 4 is not on WADA banned list", I carried out a little test today, based on current data although I believe the same applied in 2012.I went to the WADA website ~ http://list.wada-ama.org/?submit=Search&s=Thymosin+Beta+4 and typed in "Thymosin Beta 4". I received a message which says: I then went to the local Anti-Doping Organization (ASADA) website https://checksubstances.asada.gov.au/Details.aspx?prodid=&subid=-219&resultid=499D166B-A583-4F01-822D-44F776C2A9AE and typed in "Thymosin Beta 4". I received a message which says that it is "prohibited" with the following additional message: The site referred me to the Australian Sports Drug Medical Advisory Committee (ASDMAC).ASDMAC is the Australian body that gives approval for athletes to use prohibited medications for legitimate therapeutic purposes, in addition to other functions. There has never been any evidence that the Essendon players received an exemption from ASDMAC for use of TB4 and therefore Dank is as usual being disingenuous when he claims the substance is not on WADA's banned list. It is a banned substance and if the Tribunal concludes to its comfortable satisfaction that TB4 is the "Thymosin" ingested by the players it will have to find them guilty as charged.

93,013

93,013 fans witnessing history.

Another reminder of the delusional mind of the man who ran the Essendon doping programme ~ Thymosin Beta 4 is not on WADA banned list: Dank

Bound For Glory is covering the 2015 TAC Cup ~ this could be a good source of news about up and coming players of the future TAC Cup Round 1

We were told when the Melbourne team was selected for the last NAB Challenge match that we had a "settled side" but the reality now is substantially different. This is attributable to the poor form of a number of what I would call "fringe" players in the Essendon game, the fact that we have to leave Chris Dawes out of the line up due to suspension, the form of Brayshaw and the potential return from injury of Howe, Vince, JKH and Dean Kent who all missed that game. Also, do you include Cam Pedersen to cover for Dawes and possibly pinch hit in the ruck? Do we play both Jamar and Gawn in the same team? Perhaps you play Max as a forward? By any measure, I wouldn't say we have a settled side and IMO the selectors will have a big job ahead of them when they sit down to pick the team for round 1.

Judges don't always get things right or perfect in the eyes of those who observe the cases that come before them. That's why we have appeal processes built into our legal systems. It was mentioned above that Judge Jones was on the Tribunal that allowed Barry Hall to play in the 2005 grand final. Wasn't "Moose" Henwood one of those sitting on the Tribunal that handed Jack Viney a two match ban (subsequently overturned on appeal) for that bump last year? On what I've read about this saga and the fact that the ASADA case involved three days of opening submissions alone, I would think there is a circumstantial case for sanctions against the players on the basis of reasonable satisfaction. That's how I think it will go on Tuesday but if it doesn't, I have no doubt that WADA will take it to Switzerland and it might well add in a charge involving the use of AOD9604 in addition to TB4. The integrity of the WADA Code is based on preserving the S0 category which many drug cheats would otherwise use to circumvent the Code. The powers at WADA will therefore not be pleased with a not guilty verdict or a wet tram ticket penalty even if the Tribunal, as expected, comes down hard on Dank. This whole saga has dragged on for so long because Essendon is unable to provide a shred of detail about what was ingested into the players' bodies in 2011/2 - the Tribunal should not allow this fact to get the players who signed waiver forms off the hook.

Media ~ Bernie Vince and Angus Brayshaw prepare for Round 1 in Casey VFL practice match Scorps TV ~

I think Mark Stevens had the good mail when he tweeted ~ So how is Howe a "lock" to play against the Suns when he hasn't played in a practice match?

According to today's HUN, Jeremy Howe, Bernie Vince, Dean Kent and JKH are among eight Demons who will play at Casey today.

I'm getting the impression that whilst this is being put across as "balanced", there's an element of shining the spotlight on Stephen Dank as the main villain and deflecting from the responsibility of the EFC, Hird and the other assorted characters in the story ... and of course, those poor, downtrodden players who have suffered so much through this ordeal, those bronzed footsoldiers who might even be deprived next month of appearing in the 100th anniversary ANZAC Day game. So sad.

The only way the AFL Tribunal can let them off is to find they are not satisfied to their comfortable satisfaction that there is enough evidence that they took TB4. I suspect that such a finding would trigger a WADA appeal to the Court of Arbitration in Sport, thereby prolonging the saga for several months and creating more uncertainty for the players and the competition. Either way, I doubt that it will be over at 2pm next Tuesday.

If you need info from someone conversant with Foxtel itself, try a PM to the poster big_red_fire_engine who I think works for them - he's a good bloke and shares your first name so you should get on well.

You make a good point about the lack of emphasis on the "no drugs in sport message". However, the AFL has a problem in that it can't pre-empt the tribunal decision. How will it look if the tribunal comes to a not guilty verdict or if the players are found guilty and get off with a light rap over the knuckles as some in the media would have us believe?

I first started following the Demons in late 1954 and have vague childhood memories of 1955/6 but it was in 1957 that I became a dedicated Demon follower on a weekly basis. Geoff Tunbridge was therefor the first "recruit" I remember coming to the club and I'm pretty sure he was there from the first game of '57 and he fitted into the team like a glove. We lost some great players after the '56 premiership so Geoff was one of our bonuses, particularly because he was mature age when he started. On top of being a star player in a star studded team, he was a gentleman and, from people who knew him throughout his long career in education, that went right through his life I hope of young, new up and comer's can follow his lead and achieve the same success he did in his life as a sportsman and a teacher.

When the AFL premiership season is over, I will settle for a finish that sees us one position on the ladder below Hawthorn Brisbane 2½ ½ 196 157 124.84 10 GWS Giants 2 1 258 183 140.98 8 Western Bulldogs 2 1 266 190 140.00 8 Fremantle 2 1 221 193 114.51 8 Geelong 2 1 269 239 112.55 8 North Melbourne 2 1 285 268 106.34 8 Adelaide 2 1 275 260 105.77 8 Sydney 2 1 177 208 85.09 8 ___________________________________ GC Suns 1½ 1½ 200 228 87.72 6 Richmond 1 2 276 246 112.29 4 Hawthorn 1 2 289 240 120.42 4 Melbourne 1 2 187 200 93.50 4 Collingwood 1 2 234 258 90.69 4 WC Eagles 1 2 212 240 88.33 4 Carlton 1 2 210 253 83.00 4 Port Adelaide 1 2 219 269 81.41 4 St Kilda 1 2 195 254 76.77 4 Essendon 1 2 180 273 65.93 4

I find myself agreeing with Bagdad Bob on this with one caveat and that is that eight days ago in the first half against the Bulldogs we were actually playing with more than our usual flair (albeit that our opponent was severely undermanned). It was exactly what many of us had been clamouring for from about halfway through last year. By then, we had demonstrated that we were able to play more defensively and on a few occasions this was translated into stirring victories such as the Crows in Adelaide and Essendon when Christian Salem scored that last gasp goal to win what should have been an unwindable game. It's worth watching the piece of play that set up the Salem goal because to me, it seemed to go against the grain of every move the team usually makes under Roos' coaching. As I said above, I expected more of it later in 2014 but we regressed and lost a couple of games that we could have won (Brisbane for one) had we taken the opposition on instead of gone completely defensive to save it. The pre season has produced a mixed bag and I'm still puzzled as to what happened after half time last week and again this week. We seem to have gone back to the style of game that wasn't working in the latter half of last year even though we look far better equipped in terms of our personnel. A great deal will depend on how Roos directs the team to play when the season opens in a fortnight's time. I can't complain about our recruits who can and do play attacking footy and I like Hogan and Watts up forward. A bit more run with the inclusion of JKH and Kent opens up the possibilities but we need to stop over possessing the football and start having a dip more often.