mauriesy

That Cross chip kick to Salem for the final goal was also the hallmark of an experienced team player who kept cool in the pressure of the final moments.

Congrats on it not crashing. Worth the money we donated.

Dank also tried to say he meant "thymomodulin". That just has similar properties to the "good" thymosin i.e. treats bad immune response in the thymus. I agree. Why would a sports scientist be interested in anything other than what helped in muscle repair (i.e. Thymosin Beta 4)?

Tim Lane is right in The Age: "If the club is successful in the Federal Court, averting disaster on a technicality bearing no relationship to the case at issue, it will achieve an outcome repugnant to most. Its triumph will be Australian sport’s shame. The nation’s reputation for a commitment to clean sport will be tarnished. This would be the type of deflection of a doping case that Australian sports lovers have come to detest. It would rightly leave all bar blinkered partisans feeling that, when push comes to shove, our sporting standards are no better than those of the international fixers we read about in the press."

You don't need a positive drug test. Lance Armstrong didn't have one positive test in his career. Yet he was found out by a massive amount of corroborated evidence and data. The evidence is not particularly 'circumstantial' if the weight of it points to a breach. I'm assuming the 300+ interviews and 150,000+ documents that ASADA have collected point towards definite use.

Look, there was the case of a Belarusian shotputter named Nadzeya Ostapchuk who won gold at the 2012 London Olympics. She was later disqualified from the medal for testing positive for a banned substance. She was tested twice, before and after she had finished first. Both samples indicated the presence of the anabolic agent metenolone. She received a one-year ban after her coach, Alexander Yefimov, admitted to spiking her coffee with metenolone without her knowledge after being worried about her performance, stating that he thought the drug would be clear before the tests were administered. That is total "innocence" on the part of the athlete, but she lost the gold medal on the basis that it was unfair to the rest of the competitors that they were beaten by someone whose performance was still drug-enhanced. She did get a 50% time reduction because of the circumstances. There is advice in the WADA Athlete Guide for athletes to 'consult doctors and sports medicine experts' about substance administration, so if their own advisers are corrupt there is some leniency but not total absolution. Similarly, Essendon players might be entitled to a reduction in their suspension if they have been lied to by the club, but if they still had drugs in their system, they shouldn't get off entirely in relation to all the other teams and players in the AFL who weren't enhancing performance by illegal doping. (I guess there's no medal to take off Essendon.)

They were most likely ignorant, but I don't really know for sure. It wouldn't be the first time a whole group of people haven't asked questions when they are swept up in an idea that could see them achieving an ultimate goal. What were they signing agreement to? Has anyone got a copy of the actual consent form?

Football clubs would be one of the worst environments for whistle blowing. But all it needed was for one player to ask "what the hell is going on here?"

There's been a terrible lack of player education about the WADA drug code that the AFL signed up to some years ago. There's a WADA Athlete Guide that's been around since 2008 that details each athlete's responsibility. There's even an iPhone app to give access. In that guide, it explains how under the WADA code, athletes have constant and updated access to the List of Prohibited Substances: "The List of Prohibited Substances and Methods (List), updated annually by WADA, is the International Standard defining what is prohibited in- and out-of-competition. The List also indicates whether particular substances are banned in particular sports. The most current edition of the List is posted on WADA’s Web site at www.wada-ama.org". The guide also specifically advises of the “strict liability” principle, which is: Athletes should know that, under the Code, they are strictly liable whenever a prohibited substance is found in their bodily specimen. This means that a violation occurs whether or not the athlete intentionally, knowingly or unknowingly, used a prohibited substance or was negligent or otherwise at fault. It is therefore very important for athletes to understand not only what is prohibited, but also what might potentially cause an inadvertent doping violation. Saying "I didn't know I was taking it" or "my doctor gave it to me" is the oldest excuse in the book. So I have no sympathy for the Essendon Football Club (or indeed for any other club if they did the same) and I have little sympathy for the Essendon players (or indeed for any other player if they did the same). Complaining about the length of time for, and the nature of, the investigation, when it needed over 300 interviews and over 100,000 documents to be amassed, particularly because of lax record keeping and administrative negligence on the part of the Essendon football club (and Dank etc.) is hypocritical. Doping is cheating not just because it's taking drugs, but because it's giving doping athletes an unfair and illegal advantage over the whole field (in this case the other teams in the AFL). Australia has been going on about Bulgarian weightlifters, Chinese and East German swimmers, cyclists, sprinters etc. for decades. We shouldn't squeal like stuck pigs when some of our own athletes get caught in the same net.

The words are fine, but just show me the flag.

Mitch Clisby (quadriceps) – 2 weeks 1. Gawn goes out if Jamar is not injured, otherwise he stays and Jamar goes out (probably means Pedersen does a little more 'relief' rucking as Gawn will need more rests). Bring in Jordie McKenzie to worry the bejesus out of Heppell, who might not have had to face a hard tag much and faces more responsibility with Watson out. 2. Kent for one of JKH or Salem, whoever stays is the sub.

Sounds like a crutch to me.

All we are seeing is Abbott's true colours. Why did anyone think he is other than what he is ... a conservative, right-wing economic rationalist Tory? No more 'worker's friend in a hi-vis vest' for Tony now. His right-wing ideology has emerged in this budget: trampling on the poor, sick and unfortunate, and showing himself to be the true champion of business and the rich. Abbott said yesterday, "it's better to be hard in your first budget than your last". I would argue it's more important to be fair in all of them. Malcolm is far too wet to the Liberals (and Bolt and Jones).

He has a role to play and does it. He's much better than someone like Zac Dawson, a player often regarded as a 'spud' but who also has a role in one of the best teams in the comp.

That line always cracks me up. If you know the mathematical odds stacked against you, you would know you can never gamble 'responsibly'. You can only ever do it 'irresponsibly'. As someone once said: 'The TAB is a predator and you are its mathematically-illiterate prey'.

I wouldn't mind if Melbourne was so successful that these lines from Cohan's song rang true. Ev'ry time I see it waving, There's a chill runs up my back that makes me glad I'm what I am.

The "auld acquaintance" line was in Cohan's original on which the Melbourne club song is based. Have we ever had a recognised 'grand old flag'? Cohan's song refers to the Stars and Stripes. Exactly what flag does ours refer to?

Perhaps we should change our name to the Melbourne Trams.

Nothing wrong with grand ambition. As long as it makes us money and doesn't lose us money.

For the record, You're a Grand Old Flag was written by George M. Cohan for a stage play called George Washington Jnr. First publicly performed on February 6 1906, at Herald Square Theatre, New York City (hey ... there's a New York Yankee connection for you!). It was the first song from a musical to sell over a million copies of sheet music. Here's the original lyrics: You're a grand old flag, You're a high-flying flag, And forever in peace may you wave. You're the emblem of the land I love, The home of the free and the brave. Ev'ry heart beats true 'Neath the Red, White and Blue, Where there's never a boast or brag. But should auld acquaintance be forgot, Keep your eye on the grand old flag. (So the "auld acquaintance" part was in the original song.)

What do you think about 'scrutinising the club song'? P.S. At least Glen Bartlett (or Caroline Wilson) knows the difference between 'lackadaisical' and 'laconic'.

Maybe this Caroline Wilson article hasn't hit the main Fairfax websites yet. Melbourne president's plan to turn the Demons into the Yankees

Bombers might be without Watson for next week.

I doubt Mitch is sitting at home reading Demonland worrying about the chatter.

I think you need four ruckmen on your list. King is only new, Jamar is getting older. Spencer is, at a minimum, a good backup. I suspect his contract cost wouldn't be great. Due to injuries to Hale and McEvoy, Hawthorn have just given a game to a ruckman who's been on their list for six years without a senior game.