Whispering_Jack

The AFL will no doubt have a contingency plan in the event of Essendon forfeiting - the NAB Challenge programme can surely be rejigged to ensure that every team gets at least three of these games in before the start of the season. It's interesting that Essendon was drawn to play their three NAB Challenge games against St. Kilda, Melbourne and GWS who finished 18th, 17th and 16th respectively in 2014. I simply cannot believe that it just happened at random that a club under the pump like Essendon would receive that sort of draw in their circumstances.

My understanding is that Sylvia wasn't up to scratch with his level of fitness last year. I think it's virtually a case of three strikes now ... if he fails this he's out.

I always look forward to the AGM and rarely miss them but I just discovered I can't make it. Hope we have some posters in place to deliver reports on the night. (I don't think I'll miss the financial reports though )

There's one aspect of this which has hardly been aired and that is the fact that the alleged illegality of a joint investigation was first raised by the Essendon/Hird camp in August 2013 at the time of the AFL's governance sanctions against the Bombers. At the time those sanctions were accepted, albeit grudgingly by the club and all of its personnel with the exception of Doc Reid (the prevailing view is that he fought them to preserve his professional standing). The Essendon/Hird camp could have gone to court then to seek a ruling on the legality of the joint AFL/ASADA investigation but instead held their fire for ten months while the investigation proceeded, thereby delaying the issue of infraction notices and the ultimate tribunal hearing for several more months. The whole strategy has been one of delay and obfuscate; a battle of attrition hoping to break ASADA's resolve or force it into committing errors allowing them to gain some relief by stealth. Four Federal Court judges have unanimously dismissed the notion that the investigation was unlawful. I don't see how it could possibly be in the public interest for an appeal to the High Court to allow the hearing of the claims of anti-doping violations by the players in a properly constituted tribunal and its outcome to be further delayed and placed in doubt for another twelve months which is what would happen if leave to appeal was granted. #endthefarcenow

"Our players have less rights than the average Australian citizen" As has been pointed out above, the players freely signed their contracts to play in the AFL and those contracts entitle them to substantial pay for their labour (which incidentally is far more than the average working Australian citizen gets). When you boil it down, the Federal Court justices upheld the contractual rights of the parties involved in the dispute which Hird took all the way to its full bench. If Hird is so concerned about the law that he thinks it's bad for our citizenry, then he should take it up with his local representatives in Parliament and not with the courts, which in this case correctly interpreted the existing law.

James Hird, winner of the Australian Legal Profession Association Client of the Year 2015, contemplating yet another exercise in futility ~ Hird needs $100,000 to launch High Court Appeal Go for it Jimmy. The legal profession loves you, even if nobody else does (other than Tanya and Bomber fans on Kool-Aid).

The game must go on. I have purchased my tickets and if they try to cancel the game, I'll take the AFL, Hird, Essendon, and Dank all the way to the High Court over this ... no, wait.

I haven't come close to the High Court for many years - it's not really in the nature of my current practice to end up there. However, the amount you're quoting sounds like the cost of filing an application but it's likely to cost big bucks to have the application prepared and IMO a case of lot's more $'s down the drain to go with the estimated $1½m incurred by all parties so far which Hird or whoever's paying won't ever get back. I mentioned a couple of pages back the issues Hird and his advisors need to deal with in order to get leave to appeal. I think about one in three applications get to see the light of day in the High Court and, based on the judgments of four Federal Court judges, I think Hird's chances of overturning the judgment completely if he made it there are about one in twenty. On that basis, his best option for success is to take whatever money he wanted to waste on litigation to the Casino, lob it all on red or black (how very appropriate) at the roulette wheel and hope for the best. His chances would be much better over there.

Nice follow up in the series - Demons' most important

I'm still trying to get my head around the concept of provisional suspensions as they apply to the 34 players charged with anti doping offenses. The suspended players are allowed to play games (two Bombers were given permission to play in the only game scheduled since their suspension began - the IR game), they can train and do all manner of things associated with training like use club facilities, gymnasiums, pools, attend meetings, social functions, make public appearances and do interviews as Bomber players and they're still getting paid. Meanwhile their coach is nowhere to be seen and Neil Craig and Mark Neeld are taking training in his absence? They're even allowed to be injected with this stuff because it's the good juice:- This must be Bizzaroworld.

There's been very little written or spoken about our forthcoming AGM which takes place on Wednesday 4th February, 2015 (starts 6:30pm) in the Members Dining Room, MCG. Entry at Gate 2; bring your 2014 membership card.

Legal reasons (you might have noticed that some people involved in this saga will litigate at the drop of a hat). The posts will be restored if verified.

Let's keep it friendly here please. It's been a big night for the country. We need to share the love.

This is the same Bruce Francis who opened the batting for Australia in three tests in 1972 (average a little over 10). Toured South Africa early in the boycott era and later worked for the Kerry Packer circus and then organised a couple of tours to SA late in the apartheid period. Defending Hird appears to be right in character with this person. One thing, he's right about. Essendon will be fielding a 3rd rate side in 2015 but not by choice.

There have been virtually no leaks from the AFL Tribunal sitting to date but the AFL has been giving a very brief précis of each day's proceedings. I didn't pick up anything about a player giving oral evidence to the Tribunal so if a player did give the sort of evidence mentioned on BF it must have been in one of the interviews given to the AFL and ASADA. If a player did give such evidence then it's likely that he would get an extra discount but he would be burying most of the others. My guess is that if it's true, he's a now retired player.

Should any inferences be drawn by the fact that the players apparently made no attempt to call Dank to give evidence on their behalf?

In order for this story to be true, it would mean that the evidence mentioned would have been in the form of a witness statement given by the player during the interviews with ASADA and the AFL. That would be the precisely the sort of evidence which James Hird and previously the EFC fought tooth and nail to have suppressed by way of the Federal Court actions. If true, it would be an additional nail in the Essendon coffin and it could also mean that the minimum sanction the rest of the players are looking at is 12 months.

This weekend will see off the Aussie Open tennis, the Asian Cup and the three way ODI cricket series and the Super Bowl will be done and dusted by early Monday afternoon, leaving only the One Day Cricket World Cup and the odd golf tournament between us and the NAB Challenge matches and the AFL season. Now, for eight long years that has meant the beginning of heartache for Demon fans. Are things going to be different this year? Are we on the brink of a new age for the MFC? Despite the list changes (25% turnover) we have four new players with previous AFL experience coming in Heritier Lumumba, Jeff Garlett, Sam Frost and Ben Newton (the later with only four games) to replace James Frawley and Mitch Clark (who didn't play at all in 2014). Is that enough to bring us to a brand new dawn?

And other ex-Demon Jace Bode is in that leadership group which also includes Matt Panos who a few around here would have liked to have seen us draft t the end of last year.

8 reasons why James Hird lost his Federal Court Appeal

And just when we thought that the news media had plumbed the depths of stupidity, along came Graham "Judge Judy" Cornes fresh from obtaining his law degree inside a Weet-Bix packet ~ ASADA’s case against the Essendon players is so very brittle, writes Graham Cornes I'm told that before graduating in law, Cornes was lectured on the subject by that Hardie character who two months ago proclaimed on Twitter:-

Now that the Federal Court has spoken (and done so in a clear and unambiguous way), it's time to get back to the topic of dealing with alleged drug cheats and to this little piece of nonsense of yesterday morning from the Herald Sun's chief football writer:- Essendon players could boycott NAB Challenge games if AFL dont backdate anti-doping bans What does this concept of "provisional suspension" mean in the crazy world of an AFL which fines clubs for employing people who tell bad jokes?Mr Magic (on Saintsational's "Essendope" thread) asks the same question:- There can only be one answer and that is that everything to do with the AFL and Essendon is provisionally suspended from reality.

For those who might be interested ~ Judgment. and ... If he's thinking about appealing ~ Leave to appeal to the High Court In order for Jimmy to get special leave to appeal the decision to the High Court, his legal team needs to convice two High Court judges that today's decision raised questions of law of public importance and that the interests of justice require the appeal to be heard i.e the "vibe" ain't enough.

Rumour has it that Hird is in Pyongyang visiting Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un for advice as to what action he will take next. Apparently, Little established good relations with him when he was running his previous business.

Rumour has it that there's a huge garage sale in Toorak on Sunday and punters might be able to pick up a Brownlow Medal on the cheap.